abutment

American  

[uh-buht-muhnt] / əˈbʌt mənt /

noun

1. Architecture, Civil Engineering.

   1. a masonry mass supporting and receiving the thrust of part of an arch or vault.

   2. a force that serves to abut an arch or vault.

   3. a mass, as of masonry, receiving the arch, beam, truss, etc., at each end of a bridge.

   4. a mass or structure for resisting the pressure of water on a bridge, pier, or the like.

   5. each of the parts of a canyon or the like receiving the thrusts of an arch dam.

   6. a structure for absorbing tensions from reinforcing strands for concrete being prestressed.

2. the place where projecting parts meet; junction.

3. Dentistry. a tooth or tooth root that supports or stabilizes a bridge, denture, or other prosthetic appliance.

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abutment British  

/ əˈbʌtmənt /

noun

1. the state or process of abutting

2. 1. something that abuts

   2. the thing on which something abuts

   3. the point of junction between them

3. architect civil engineering a construction that takes the thrust of an arch or vault or supports the end of a bridge

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Etymology

Origin of abutment

First recorded in 1635–45; abut + -ment

Example Sentences

“When you’re plowing the road you need to know where the bridge abutment is and where the expansion joints are so you don’t hook that with a plow,” LaBoe said.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 10, 2021

In a fatal crash in Mountain View, Calif., in 2018, a Tesla running on Autopilot drove head-on into a concrete abutment.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 7, 2021

Two women were killed and six others were injured early Sunday after a boat they were in struck a concrete abutment off the Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore, authorities said.

From Washington Post • Jul. 26, 2015

River Action, Inc. has an ambitious plan to re-create a single span of that bridge as a trail from the original earthen abutment over River Drive to Davenport’s Heritage Park.

From Washington Times • Dec. 29, 2014

They sat on the broken abutment of the road and watched the river backing upon itself and coiling over the iron trelliswork.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy