corbel means A structural member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight. It carries an Arena rating of 1655, earned across 33 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, corbel ranks #44 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #53 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,461 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,606 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
corbel is pronounced /ˈkɔːbəl/.
Why “corbel” is a great word
CORBEL — [Noun] A structural member, often of stone or brick, that projects from a wall to support a weight above it. From Middle English corbel, from Old French corbel (a diminutive of corb "raven"), from Late Latin corbellus, diminutive of Latin corvus ("raven"), named for its resemblance to a crow's beak. Unlike a "bracket," which is a more general and often decorative projection, or a "console," which denotes a specific scroll-like ornament, a corbel is the fundamental, load-bearing grammar of masonry. It is the stone knuckle clutching a castle's parapet, the stacked brick fingers upholding a heavy mantel, and the silent, hunched shoulder beneath a balcony—a testament to architecture's patient art of shouldering a burden.
Etymology
From Middle English corbel, from Old French corbel, from Late Latin corbellus, corvellus, diminutive of Latin corvus (“raven”), named for the shape's resemblance to a crow's beak. Doublet of corbeau.
noun
- A structural member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight.e.g.“The booking hall is lofty and of peculiar design, the roof being carried on timbered beams set in pairs rising from carved corbels.” — 1946 September and October, D. J. Rowett, “Stamford L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:
verb
- To furnish with a corbel or corbels; to support by a corbel; to make in the form of a corbel.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- corbelled 77% match — Having corbels. vs corbel →
- corbeling 77% match — A series of corbels or piece of continuous corbeled masonry. vs corbel →
- encorbelment 72% match — Corbelling. vs corbel →
- corbelling 71% match — A series of corbels or piece of continuous corbelled masonry. vs corbel →
- bressummer 63% match — A large, horizontal supporting beam which bears the weight of a wall starting on a first or higher floor, particularly when exposed or used to support a jetty (timber-frame overhang construction). vs corbel →
- buttress 62% match — A brick, concrete or stone structure built against another structure to support it. vs corbel →
- cantilever 61% match — A beam anchored at one end and projecting into space, such as a long bracket projecting from a wall to support a balcony. vs corbel →
- bracket 61% match — A fixture attached to a wall to hold up a shelf. vs corbel →