wainscot
Americannoun
-
wood, especially oak and usually in the form of paneling, for lining interior walls.
-
the lining itself, especially as covering the lower portion of a wall.
-
a dado, especially of wood, lining an interior wall.
-
British. oak of superior quality and cut, imported from the Baltic countries for fine woodwork.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
Also called: wainscoting. wainscotting. a lining applied to the walls of a room, esp one of wood panelling
-
the lower part of the walls of a room, esp when finished in a material different from the upper part
-
fine quality oak used as wainscot
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wainscotsimple
-
wainscotssimple
-
have wainscotedperfect
-
have wainscottedperfect
-
has wainscotedperfect
-
has wainscottedperfect
-
am wainscotingprogressive
-
am wainscottingprogressive
-
are wainscotingprogressive
-
are wainscottingprogressive
-
is wainscotingprogressive
-
is wainscottingprogressive
-
have been wainscotingperfect progressive
-
have been wainscottingperfect progressive
-
has been wainscotingperfect progressive
-
has been wainscottingperfect progressive
Past
-
wainscotedsimple
-
wainscottedsimple
-
had wainscotedperfect
-
had wainscottedperfect
-
was wainscotingprogressive
-
was wainscottingprogressive
-
were wainscotingprogressive
-
were wainscottingprogressive
-
had been wainscotingperfect progressive
-
had been wainscottingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wainscot
1325–75; Middle English < Middle Low German or Middle Dutch wagenschot, equivalent to wagen wain + schot (< ?)
Explanation
Wainscot is a type of wood paneling on a room's walls. Wainscot is often made from oak. This word's meaning is hard to figure out from looking at it, but the wains part is from a Dutch word that meant "wagon" and the scot part probably comes from a word that means "partition." Put them together, and you've got a word for wood paneling in a room: usually the kind that goes half-way up the wall. Originally, wainscot was a type of foreign oak imported to Britain for use in paneling, before it came to mean the paneling itself.
Vocabulary lists containing wainscot
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:
Named for its historic 1920s Chateauesque building, Castle is a treasure box of prewar charm: lattice windows, crown-molding, wainscot, Art Deco tile.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
Install them floor to ceiling or only halfway up as a wainscot, then cap it with a wood chair rail.
From Time ● Mar. 12, 2015
At the push of a button, the lifts open and close, floor-indicator lights blink, and chimes ping, as if an office tower staffed by Lilliputian drones were hidden behind the wainscot.
From Architectural Digest ● Nov. 4, 2014
The walls are covered with red silk damask and decorated with wainscot panelling.
From Economist ● Sep. 18, 2014
“Emma,” said she, “this paper is worse than I expected. Look! in places you see it is dreadfully dirty; and the wainscot is more yellow and forlorn than any thing I could have imagined.”
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
The wainscots of its little cabinets, exhibit only a tablet, upon which are rudely186 penciled, the motley initials, love verses, and memorandums of its various visitors.
From The Stranger in France or, a Tour from Devonshire to Paris Illustrated by Engravings in Aqua Tint of Sketches Taken on the Spot. by Carr, John, Sir
Tribunes, stairs and wainscots that formed a strange contrast with the rest of the edifice were added.
From Historical Sketch of the Cathedral of Strasburg by Anonymous
The parlor and dining room on opposite sides of the hall, the bedrooms above and also the halls all have beautifully paneled wainscots.
From The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia by Cousins, Frank
The walls and wainscots were of red, glazed bricks to the height of a man, and were bordered by a row of flowered tiles.
From The Cabin [La barraca] by Blasco Ib??ez, Vicente
However, we may see the same sombre wainscots and low ceiling that Sterne knew, and we find the one room which interests us most—Sterne's parlor and study—littleSterne's Parsonage—Study changed.
From A Literary Pilgrimage Among the Haunts of Famous British Authors by Wolfe, Theodore F. (Theodore Frelinghuysen)
Inside, with its wainscoted white walls and dark oak floors, it’s as luxurious and well-appointed as a Four Seasons hotel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
The gray-on-gray wainscoted dining room is quite pleasant, and so, too, looked the outdoor patio on such a fine summertime’s evening.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 22, 2023
The man famous for drafting Daniel Jones sat in what looked to be a barren, wainscoted attic with a big-screen TV set atop a plastic folding table.
From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2020
Clues were scarce, but he deduced what he could from the set: a wainscoted room with French windows, a cane-back wheelchair parked in front of them.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2015
She led Desdemona down a long, wainscoted corridor, through a telephone operator’s office, and into another darker hallway.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
With a globe on his desk and roll-down maps on the wall of his elegantly wainscotted office, he could be found high in the iconic Chrysler Building in the heart of New York City.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2016
For indeed it seemed as though Rudolph the Great, whose picture frowned down upon them from the wainscotted wall, walked once more in their midst.
From The Traitors by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
He never ceases his scrutiny, and during his whole life is gaining knowledge from that wonderful architecture, which has so curiously floored and wainscotted the earth under our feet.
From Henry of Ofterdingen: A Romance. by Hardenberg, Friedrich von
Inside the upper storey were large wainscotted galleries, which, in the 19th century, were divided by partitions and adorned with mural decorations.
From Ypres and the Battles of Ypres by Unknown
The little parlor is wainscotted with the votive paintings—a village Diploma Gallery—of artists who have made the Swan their home.
From Hospital Sketches by Peabody, Robert Swain
Other impressive features found in the space included original teak plank flooring, an original marble staircase, and original picture moldings and wainscoting.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026
An elegant wainscoting of polished carbon fiber stretches across the four doors, accented with aluminum bezels and wire-thin LED lighting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
And instead of recessed wall niches, she added shallow, surface-mounted bookshelves over the room’s wainscoting and wallpaper.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2023
In one arresting work, attic wainscoting is a series of vertical black rectangles lined up one after the next against grayed ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
The moon lit the wide front hall in pale ribbons, turning the dust and broken bits of chair and wainscoting and climbing vines from feral houseplants into fairy tale turrets.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
Cooke’s friends donated a truckload of 2-by-3s, and he made the wainscotting out of wood from an old fence.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2022
They fixed up the twenty-six-seat dining room, putting in wainscotting and a bar made from a farmhouse floor.
From The New Yorker ● May 20, 2019
They might be in the wainscotting, but they’re putting it out there.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2014
We are – and you brought us out of the wainscotting like so many freaky old bastards.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 22, 2013
Ceiling and walls are painted dead white, with red wainscotting round the settee.
From An Ocean Tramp by McFee, William
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.
