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:
Instead, posts and beams were fitted together with mortise and tenon joints.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 28, 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
But Andrew Baren, the president of Katonah Architectural Hardware, recommended using a mortise latch, which is not only more resilient, but can be made with stronger springs to support heavier door levers.
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
I see new words that sound cool like dado and kerf and tenon and mortise.
From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine
These teeth, or cogs, as they are generally called, have tenons formed on them, which fit into mortises in the rim of the wheel.
From An Introduction to Machine Drawing and Design by Low, David Allan
All the mortises and diamond shaped openings should be marked and cut with a chisel from both sides of the board.
From Mission Furniture How to Make It, Part 2 by Windsor, H. H. (Henry Haven)
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
The mortises are first dressed out to a uniform size and taper, using two templates to test them with, one of which is for the breadth and the other for the width of the mortise.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua
The cogs should be numbered to their places, and two of the mortises must be numbered to show the direction in which the numbers proceed.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua
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
First, the ground sill is a square of 20 ft., made of yellow pine sticks mortised together and pinned with stout trunnels.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various
To the sides of the mortar above the block are fixed two upright posts, whose upper ends are somewhat cut back and are mortised to the timbers of the building.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
It is carved entirely by means of a jackknife, and the sighting bars are also whittled to shape and mortised permanently into the frame.
From Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers by Bedini, Silvio A.
His machines, and subsequent improvements by others, for boring, mortising and turning, display wonderful ingenuity.
From Inventions in the Century by Doolittle, William Henry
I did not progress as fast as a carpenter would have done with his mortising chisel, or a cooper with his breast-bit or auger; but I had the gratification of knowing that I was progressing.
From The Boy Tar by Read, Edward
To work the two went accordingly—adjusting, screwing, squaring, sawing, planing, mortising, until the dinner-bell called them to the house.
From Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
The firmer-chisel is a general utility tool, being suited for hand pressure or mallet pounding, for paring or for light mortising.
From Handwork in Wood by Noyes, William
For this purpose a rather small chisel of the kind known among cabinet makers as a mortising chisel will be required.
From The Repairing & Restoration of Violins 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. by Petherick, Horace
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.
