buttress
any external prop or support built to steady a structure by opposing its outward thrusts, especially a projecting support built into or against the outside of a masonry wall.
any prop or support.
a thing shaped like a buttress, as a tree trunk with a widening base.
a bony or horny protuberance, especially on a horse's hoof.
to support by a buttress; prop up.
to give encouragement or support to (a person, plan, etc.).
Origin of buttress
1Other words for buttress
Other words from buttress
- but·tress·less, adjective
- but·tress·like, adjective
- non·but·tressed, adjective
- un·but·tressed, adjective
Words Nearby buttress
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use buttress in a sentence
At low tide, the looping roots act like stilts and buttresses, keeping trunks and branches above the waterline and dry.
How Kenyans help themselves and the planet by saving mangrove trees | Geoffrey Kamadi | September 14, 2022 | Science NewsDefinitions are, most often, ornaments of the understanding rather than its buttresses.
Both buttress national identity, and both are concerned with equality.
Scotland’s ‘Yes’ Campaign and the Myth of Scottish Equality | Noah Caldwell | September 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNor is it certain that exports by energy companies would buttress U.S. diplomacy.
We should buttress cooperative tribes again, with names like Dulaim, Isawi, Al bu Issa, among others.
Their Fight…But Our Legacy: The New Battle for Fallujah | John Kael Weston | January 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
They build on their distinctive strengths, buttress and leverage their specific assets, attributes, and advantages.
“McConnell is doing everything he can to buttress his support,” Mann said.
Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Mike Lee: When Freshmen Attack | Patricia Murphy | May 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTProfiting by this, Benjy quietly moved away round a colossal buttress of the berg, and took refuge in an ice-cave.
The Giant of the North | R.M. BallantyneIt was an outside one, massive as a buttress, and Harry was building it well and truly, for it was the essential of the house.
Mushroom Town | Oliver OnionsFrom the buttress foot a sheep-walk goes along the scarp—see, you can follow it from here in the dry grass.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI | Robert Louis StevensonAnd drawing his cutlass from his belt, Michael bounded round the buttress behind which the young girl had promised to wait.
Michael Strogoff | Jules VernePerhaps we shall be able to walk round into another cwm on the far side of North-west buttress.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 | Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury
British Dictionary definitions for buttress
/ (ˈbʌtrɪs) /
Also called: pier a construction, usually of brick or stone, built to support a wall: See also flying buttress
any support or prop
something shaped like a buttress, such as a projection from a mountainside
either of the two pointed rear parts of a horse's hoof
to support (a wall) with a buttress
to support or sustain
Origin of buttress
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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