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Synonyms

gambrel roof

American  

noun

  1. a gable roof, each side of which has a shallower slope above a steeper one.


gambrel roof British  

noun

  1. a hipped roof having a small gable at both ends

  2. a roof having two slopes on both sides, the lower slopes being steeper than the upper Compare mansard

"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

Other Word Forms

  • gambrel-roofed adjective

Etymology

Origin of gambrel roof

An Americanism dating back to 1755–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The owner of a longtime Summerland antiques barn had died, and the "historically delightful" 1921 structure — complete with gambrel roof and grounds with potential — was available.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2018

River view, sitting porch with four Ionic columns, gambrel roof, two chimneys.

From Washington Times • Dec. 1, 2016

It is a white clapboard farmhouse with old-fashioned gambrel roof, dormer windows, neat flower boxes at the window sills.

From Time Magazine Archive

Its sides—clad in weather-beaten shingles and inset with a series of large windows—slanted obliquely inward, rising toward a gambrel roof.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

In the rear of this building, fronting on Union Street, is the plain, two-story-and-a-half house, with a gambrel roof, where Hawthorne was born.

From The Lure of the Camera by Olcott, Charles S.