girder
Americannoun
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girders
plural
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a large beam, as of steel, reinforced concrete, or timber, for supporting masonry, joists, purlins, etc.
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a principal beam of wood, steel, etc., supporting the ends of joists.
noun
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a large beam, esp one made of steel, used in the construction of bridges, buildings, etc
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botany the structure composed of tissue providing mechanical support for a stem or leaf
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of girder
Explanation
A girder is any of the many beams used in buildings and bridges that provide support and actually hold them up. If you've ever seen a building going up, you know the first thing they do is put up a steel or wood skeleton that will eventually take the weight of the roof, the siding, the floors, and all the rooms inside. That skeleton is made of girders. Bridges also are made with girders, but they usually remain visible long after the steel beams in buildings have been covered by glass, brick, and wood.
Vocabulary lists containing girder
100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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Bless Me, Ultima
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"The End and the Beginning," Vocabulary from the poem
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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.
See Examples For:
The girder was part of a project to build elevated highways in the city.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2023
All three bridge spans have been outfitted with 24-hour measuring devices, plus closed-circuit cameras within the girder sections where cracks formed in the 2010s.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2022
The rise of white collar work in downtown L.A. — and the invention of elevators and steel girder construction — also contributed to skyline development at the turn of the century, Deverell said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2022
They can also penetrate materials that x-rays cannot, enabling researchers to image the interiors of big objects such as a running engine or a steel girder.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 2, 2021
She walked the girder until she came to a plate that joined the girder to the webbing.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Starting in 2023, they tore out its center and moved steel girders until they resembled Swiss cheese.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
Masonry, metal girders and piles of sand are everywhere along the pavements.
From Barron's ● Nov. 24, 2025
The final box girders were swung into place at the end of 1963, covered in the Union Flag and Lion Rampant to mark the occasion.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2024
Installation of the steel girders were completed back in April, and crews have since been assembling wood forms and placing reinforcing rods in preparation for concrete pouring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2024
He continued straight through, into an inner chamber, just missing a network of steel girders and maintenance ladders.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
