lintel
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of lintel
1350–1400; Middle English lyntel < Middle French lintel, dissimilated variant of *linter < Latin līmitāris originally, belonging to or indicating a boundary; later taken as synonym of līmināris originally, of the threshold. See limit, -ar 1
Explanation
In architecture, a lintel is the beam or other support at the top of a door or window. Most lintels are decorative as well as providing structural support. A lintel can be purely ornamental, just an attractive horizontal flourish at the top of a door, or it can be a wood or metal support piece that also looks nice. Your fireplace might be topped by a stone lintel, and you might see a much older lintel in ancient Roman ruins, at the top of two massive pillars. In Old French, lintel means "threshold," from the Latin word limitaris, "bordering."
Vocabulary lists containing lintel
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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Learning Down The House: Parts of Your Home
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Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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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.
Finding a Miyake event in wood from a Mesoamerican structure—such as a lintel in the Maya temple Tikal in Guatemala, whose construction is recorded in the Long Count—would settle the matter.
From Science Magazine • Apr. 13, 2023
This past year, I’ve spent most of my time in my drafty office in Harlem, where the water leak from the lintel above the south-facing window has reappeared after some bad weather.
From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2021
I’ve known landlords to be held horizontally over the front edge of the sway, with their feet only just touching the lintel of the pub’s doorframe, stretching for the hood.
From The Guardian • Apr. 30, 2018
Inside, a boisterous group of small children is squatting in front of a 12th-century lintel decorated with animals, but I have the rest of the museum virtually to myself.
From Washington Post • Jan. 25, 2018
“Thief,” Jon said, as the I bird flapped up to the lintel above the door to devour its prize.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
