trellis

[trel-is]

noun

1. a frame or structure of latticework; lattice.

2. a framework of this kind used as a support for growing vines or plants.

3. a summerhouse, gazebo, arch, etc., made chiefly or completely of latticework.

4. Heraldry.,  a charge of bendlets overlying bendlets sinister, the whole being cloué at the crossings.

verb (used with object)

1. to furnish with a trellis.

2. to enclose in a trellis.

3. to train or support on a trellis.

4. to form into or like a trellis.

trellis

/ ˈtrɛlɪs /

noun

1. a structure or pattern of latticework, esp one used to support climbing plants

2. an arch made of latticework

verb

1. to interweave (strips of wood, etc) to make a trellis

2. to provide or support with a trellis

Other Word Forms

• trellis-like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of trellis¹

1350–1400; Middle English trelis < Middle French (noun) < Late Latin trilīcius (for Latin trilīx ) woven with three threads, equivalent to Latin tri- tri- + līci ( um ) thread + -us adj. suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of trellis¹

C14: from Old French treliz fabric of open texture, from Late Latin trilīcius woven with three threads, from Latin _tri- + līcium thread

Example Sentences

He scrambled up the vine-covered trellis that led to the balcony quite nimbly for an old bowlegged coachman.

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Another complication is that to accommodate robotic pickers, many farmers would need to plant new orchards with apples growing on trellises rather than in rows of traditional lollipop-shaped trees.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A plant-covered trellis, known as “the hanging garden,” provides a more compressed moment of pause.

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These sections call for fire-rated exterior doors and stringent guidelines on outdoor features such as decks and trellises.

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And many people have gotten creative with containers, growing tomatoes and lemon trees in pots or supported by trellises, strawberries in hanging baskets and even wildflowers in wide containers.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• arbor 
• lattice