mortise
Americannoun
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a notch, hole, groove, or slot made in a piece of wood or the like to receive a tenon of the same dimensions.
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a deep recess cut into wood for any of several other purposes, as for receiving a mortise lock.
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Printing. a space cut out of a plate, especially for the insertion of type or another plate.
verb (used with object)
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to secure with a mortise and tenon
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to cut or form a mortise in (a piece of wood or the like).
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to join securely.
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Printing.
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to cut metal from (a plate).
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to cut out metal from a plate and insert (new material) in its place.
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noun
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a slot or recess, usually rectangular, cut into a piece of wood, stone, etc, to receive a matching projection (tenon) of another piece, or a mortise lock
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printing a cavity cut into a letterpress printing plate into which type or another plate is inserted
verb
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to cut a slot or recess in (a piece of wood, stone, etc)
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to join (two pieces of wood, stone, etc) by means of a mortise and tenon
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to cut a cavity in (a letterpress printing plate) for the insertion of type, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mortisesimple
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mortisessimple
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have mortisedperfect
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has mortisedperfect
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am mortisingprogressive
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are mortisingprogressive
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is mortisingprogressive
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have been mortisingperfect progressive
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has been mortisingperfect progressive
Past
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mortisedsimple
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had mortisedperfect
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was mortisingprogressive
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were mortisingprogressive
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had been mortisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mortise
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English morteys, mortaise, from Anglo-French mortais(e), Old French mortoise; of obscure origin
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:
If not, then you may have to set the hinge plate deeper in its mortise.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2020
Woodwork with mortise and tenon joints, original and restored hardware and tile-faced fireplaces are found throughout the nearly 6,000 square feet of living space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2020
There are two basic types of latches: tubular and mortise.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2019
Thick hand-hewn oak beams connected with slotted and tabbed mortise and tenon joints provide the bones of the building, which has deliberately been left unfurnished to showcase its construction.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 19, 2015
Iron rod threaded through three rusted loops, old mortise lock with a rusty cam.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
If the wood shrinks, or the tenons do not fit the mortises all through, or the glue is deficient, these various portions speedily come to pieces.
From British Manufacturing Industries Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork. by Arnoux, L.
S. A round, taper shaft, strengthened above and below the mortises with iron hoops.
From Practical Education, Volume II by Edgeworth, Maria
Again, mortises, tenons, dovetails, and joinery of all sorts, no longer demand from hand-work the accuracy, neatness, and perfection of former days.
From British Manufacturing Industries Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork. by Arnoux, L.
When the teeth of a wheel are inserted in mortises or slots provided in the wheel-rim, it is termed a mortised-wheel, or a cogged-wheel, and the teeth are termed cogs.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua
Lay out and cut the mortises on the end pieces for the tenons of the shelf, also the tenons on the top ends and the diamond shaped openings.
From Mission Furniture How to Make It, Part 2 by Windsor, H. H. (Henry Haven)
There was the strange commercial released by his loyal sponsor Nike, in which a rigor mortised Mr. Woods received counsel from the disembodied voice of his late father, Earl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2010
Smoothly mortised and joined by Director Ted Tetzlaff and Producer Frederic Ullman Jr., The Window emerges as a fast little thriller full of grade A qualities.
From Time Magazine Archive
The mother-of-pearl slide which runs along a mortised groove further protects the hair on the outside of the nut.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
If the mortised piece were forced downward until it broke off the tenon at the shoulder, that would be shearing across the grain.
From Wood and Forest by Noyes, William
Into the axle is mortised a toothed drum, whose teeth are fixed in the side of the rim.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
In the highest class of furniture where loose cushions are used, the seat base is formed by solidly mortising a frame together on which is woven a heavy cane seating.
From Mission Furniture How to Make It, Part 3 by Windsor, H. H. (Henry Haven)
"The practices in the art of carpentry are called planeing, sawing, mortising, scribing, moulding, &c."
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
It looked something like a pickaxe with only one arm, the end of which was fashioned like a mortising chisel, and was used as an axe.
From Four Young Explorers or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics by Shute, A. B.
These are 4 by 4 in. pieces of wood, hard pine preferred, planed and securely set up in the X-pieces by mortising into the same.
From The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 700 Things for Boys to Do by Popular Mechanics Co.
To overcome this difficulty the latest types of mortising machines have a square hole-boring attachment fixed alongside the chain.
From Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by Fairham, William
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.
