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
But in consequence either of an error in measurement or of a mistake in calculating the shrinking of the bricks, there was a gap between the third voussoir on the right and the key.
From A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1 by Armstrong, Walter, Sir
Thus it is always: in attempting to dislodge a single voussoir from the arch of truth, the temple itself is shaken, so cunningly are the stones fitted together.
From Architecture and Democracy by Bragdon, Claude Fayette
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
"Are you still wondering what the extrados of a voussoir is?"
From The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley by Tracy, Louis
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.
