gambrel

[ gam-bruhl ]
See synonyms for gambrel on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the hock of an animal, especially of a horse.

  2. Also called gambrel stick . a wood or metal device for suspending a slaughtered animal.

Origin of gambrel

1
1540–50; <Old North French gamberel, akin to French jambier legging, jambe leg

Words Nearby gambrel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use gambrel in a sentence

  • The Star and the Crescent have fitted up one room under the gambrel very tastefully.

  • The Old gambrel-roofed House could not boast an unbroken ring of natural objects encircling it.

    A Mortal Antipathy | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  • The appearance of the hind-part of the cow, from a point near the gambrel-joint up to the tail, Guenon calls the escutcheon.

    Soil Culture | J. H. Walden
  • On and still on I sped, the big, bright pumpkin slipping up and down the gambrel of my spirited horse at every jump.

  • Two large windows, one in each end of the gambrel roof, afforded light and air.

    Peggy Owen at Yorktown | Lucy Foster Madison

British Dictionary definitions for gambrel

gambrel

/ (ˈɡæmbrəl) /


noun
  1. the hock of a horse or similar animal

  2. a frame of wood or metal shaped like a horse's hind leg, used by butchers for suspending carcasses of meat

  1. short for gambrel roof

Origin of gambrel

1
C16: from Old Northern French gamberel, from gambe leg

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012