voussoir
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of voussoir
1325–75; < French; replacing Middle English vousor ( i ) e < Anglo-French; Old French volsoir < Vulgar Latin *volsōrium, equivalent to *volt ( us ) (for Latin volūtus ), past participle of volvere to turn + -tōrium -tory 2 with tt > s
Explanation
A voussoir is a wedge-shaped stone used in building arches and vaults. If you’re building an arch, or any other curved shape, rectangle bricks just won’t do. You need a voussoir or two! One type of building block is named by the French word voussoir. A voussoir is a stone block that’s wedge shaped, like a piece of pie with a bite taken out. Since it takes more than one to build with, the word is usually plural. Voussoirs are used to make specific buildings — arches and tombs. The rounded form of an arch is tricky to build, and the wedge shape of voussoirs helps them fit together.
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.
He learns the endless terms, the vocabulary that classifies the details of ancient buildings, writing them on separate index cards and making illustrations on the back: architrave, entablature, tympanum, voussoir.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Each voussoir was a cast-iron framed piece two feet long and five feet in depth, and these were bolted together.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 324, March 18, 1882 by Various
Its ellipse is composed of eight voussoirs, four on each side, and a key with a small wedge-shaped stone voussoir on each side of it.
From A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1 by Sir Walter Armstrong
Next morning he was early at his arch, and had soon finished the voussoir which he had been roughing out when this vital interruption occurred.
From Peccavi by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
If neither a corner-stone, a voussoir nor a capital, it has at least its place in the edifice which forms the literary history of the nineteenth century.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 20. July, 1877. by Various
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
