tenon
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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tenons,
present (3rd person singular)
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tenoned,
past participle, past
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tenoning
present participle
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to provide with a tenon.
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to join by or as by a tenon.
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to join securely.
noun
verb
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to form a tenon on (a piece of wood)
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to join with a tenon and mortise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tenonsimple
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tenonssimple
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have tenonedperfect
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has tenonedperfect
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am tenoningprogressive
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are tenoningprogressive
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is tenoningprogressive
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have been tenoningperfect progressive
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has been tenoningperfect progressive
Past
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tenonedsimple
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had tenonedperfect
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was tenoningprogressive
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were tenoningprogressive
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had been tenoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tenon
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French, equivalent to ten ( ir ) to hold (< Latin tenēre ) + -on noun suffix
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
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
"You can get good at the mortise and tenon joints but without the spark to power your tool in the first place, you can't make the table."
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2013
I see new words that sound cool like dado and kerf and tenon and mortise.
From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine
The timbers were fastened together by the mortice-and-tenon method; holes called mortices were cut, into which the tongues or tenons of other pieces would then fit.
From "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction" by David Macaulay
There are mortised into this longitudinal beam the lower ends of upper posts three palms wide and two thick, which are six feet two palms high, exclusive of their tenons.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
Ten′oner, a machine for forming tenons; Ten′on-saw, a thin back-saw for tenons, &c.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
This will necessitate care in mortising and tenoning the side rails so as to get good fits for the shoulders The bevel square will be needed in laying out the shoulders of the tenons.
From Mission Furniture How to Make It, Part 2 by H. H. (Henry Haven) Windsor
As a rule three bands from which the ornamental work springs constitute the hinges, which have rings outside the hanging stiles fitting on to vertical tenons run into the masonry or wooden frame.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various
Their testimony mortised and tenoned in a way to rejoice a cabinet-maker's heart.
From By Advice of Counsel by Arthur Cheney Train
All of the rails should be tenoned into the posts thoroughly, even if the lag screw fastenings are used.
From Mission Furniture How to Make It, Part 2 by H. H. (Henry Haven) Windsor
I had framed it, with my own hands, of stout tenoned logs, so that it would fit tightly to keep out the frost.
From The Mistress of Bonaventure by Harold Bindloss
I will not quote Walt Whitman and say his feet were tenoned and mortised in granite, but they were well planted on the soil—and sometimes mired in clay.
From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 04 Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Painters by Elbert Hubbard
A slip-joint or end or open mortise-and-tenon is what would remain if a mortised member were sawn off along one side of the tenoned member.
From Handwork in Wood by William Noyes
In Thicket, 1990, his intersections run free variations on the notching, lapping and tenoning of practical carpentry in order to generate a curved form with straight balks of pine.
From Time Magazine Archive
Make the doors, tenoning the rails into the stiles and grooving both to receive the mullioned framework of 3/16-in. stuff.
From Mission Furniture How to Make It, Part 2 by H. H. (Henry Haven) Windsor
The carpenter's shop is likewise supplied with necessary machine tools, such as saws, planers, tenoning machine, whittlers, etc., the power being furnished by the machine shop.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 446, July 19, 1884 by Various
The illustration shows the method of tenoning the three pieces to the top rail, barefaced tenons being employed.
From Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by William Fairham
The method of mitreing the moulding and tenoning the stile to rail is indicated.
From Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by William Fairham
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.
