mantel
or man·tle
[man-tl]
- a construction framing the opening of a fireplace and usually covering part of the chimney breast in a more or less decorative manner.
- Also called mantelshelf. a shelf above a fireplace opening.
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Origin of mantel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for mantelpiece
Contemporary Examples
And she said, “No, you are on fire,” and my arm had caught on fire from a candle on this mantelpiece.
Stephen Merchant Talks ‘Hello Ladies’ movie, the Nicole Kidman Cameo, and Legacy of ‘The Office’Marlow Stern
November 22, 2014
Each of those women had a sepia photograph on the mantelpiece, of a young man in uniform.
Over the mantelpiece, that was Henry Irving, the 19th-century actor-manager who was the first English actor to be knighted.
"Sadly he ran into the wrong people and he is now on someone's mantelpiece somewhere probably," he said.
Historical Examples
Somehow or other his eyes wandered to a picture that rested on a mantelpiece in the room.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
Mr Vladimir, arranging his cravat, observed him in the glass over the mantelpiece.
The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad
I might sweep and wash off the stove, and—and clean off the mantelpiece.
Maltravers glanced at the clock upon the mantelpiece; it was the hour of nine.
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
George Featherly, standing with his back to the mantelpiece, smiled unkindly.
The Prisoner of ZendaAnthony Hope
mantelpiece
- Also called: mantel shelf, chimneypiece a shelf above a fireplace often forming part of the mantel
- another word for mantel (def. 1)
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mantel
less commonly mantle
- a wooden or stone frame around the opening of a fireplace, together with its decorative facing
- Also called: mantel shelf a shelf above this frame
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Word Origin
C15: from French, variant of mantle
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
Word Origin and History for mantelpiece
mantel
n.
c.1200, "short, loose, sleeveless cloak," variant of mantle (q.v.). Sense of "movable shelter for soldiers besieging a fort" is from 1520s. Meaning "timber or stone supporting masonry above a fireplace" first recorded 1510s, a shortened form of Middle English mantiltre "mantletree" (late 15c.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper