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lintel

UK/ˈlɪn.təl/US/ˈlɪn.təl/
nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — limit sits at #2,083leans written

Other forms: lintels

A lintel is the beam bridging the top of a door or window. A stone lintel, the lintel cracked, fit a new lintel.

It carries the wall above the opening, which is why cutting a new window means putting one in first. A cracked lintel is one of the faults a surveyor looks for, since it means the load has moved.

Definitions of lintel

  1. 1nounlintelThe beam bridging the top of a door or window.C1

    “He had to duck under the low stone lintel to get through the cottage door.”

lintel is a beam.

Where it comes from

Old French lintel comes from a Latin word for a boundary or threshold; limit is a relative.

  1. Old French

    lintel

  2. Middle English

    lyntel

  3. English, today

    lintel

From Middle English lyntel, from Old French lintel, from Vulgar Latin līntellus, for līmitellus, diminutive noun from līmes. Equivalent to limit + -el.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Tools & DIY, Buildings & Architecture

Practise this word

lintel in the wild

  • The horizontal elements are called by a variety of names including lintel, header, architrave or beam, and the supporting vertical elements may be called posts, columns, or pillars.

    Post and lintel

  • Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.

    Pediment

  • The site is particularly known for its well-preserved sculptured stone lintels set above the doorways of the main structures.

    Yaxchilan

  • Lady Xoc is best known for adorning Structure 23 in Yaxchilan with three lintels that depict her performing rituals and sacrifices.

    Lady Xoc

  • The slabs or beams across windows and doors are called "lintel" and are there for structural support.

    Belt course

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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.

Related words

  • limit
  • limitation