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cantilever

UK/ˈkantɪliːvə/US/ˈkæntɪˌlivɚ/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,432 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: cantilevers

A cantilever is a beam supported at one end only, reaching out into space. A cantilever bridge, a cantilevered balcony, the cantilever holds.

It works because the fixed end resists the turning force, which is why the support must be far stronger than an ordinary one. The Forth Bridge is the great cantilever structure, and a diving board is the everyday one.

Mecanismo Original uploader was Mecanismo at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of cantilever

  1. 1nouncantileverA beam supported at one end only, reaching out into space.C1

    “The balcony rests on a steel cantilever, with no posts underneath to hold it up.”

cantilever is a beam.

Where it comes from

Probably from cant, an edge or slope, plus lever. The earliest recorded form is quite different.

Built from

  • cant · English — slope, edge, corner

First attested in the 1660s, probably from cant (“slope, edge, corner”) + lever, but the earliest form (c. 1610) was cantlapper. First element may also be Spanish can (“dog”), an architect's term for an end of timber jutting out of a wall, on which beams rested.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Buildings & Architecture

Practise this word

cantilever in the wild

  • A cantilever can be in the form of a beam, plate, truss, or slab.

    Cantilever

  • The name Carquinez Bridge originally referred to a single cantilever bridge built in 1927, which was part of the direct route between San Francisco and Sacramento.

    Carquinez Bridge

  • A second parallel cantilever bridge was completed in 1958 to deal with the increased traffic.

    Carquinez Bridge

  • The Bolte Bridge is a twin cantilever road bridge across the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

    Bolte Bridge

  • The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a 5,040 ft cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York.

    Rip Van Winkle Bridge

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.