pug

en-verb

pug (third-person singular simple present pugs, present participle pugging, simple past and past participle pugged)

pugs (present singular third-person)
pugging (participle present)
pugged (participle past)
pugged (past)

The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly:
* related to southern Dutch puggen (“to hit hard”), German pucken (“to beat, thump”), possibly ultimately imitative; or
* related to poke (verb).
It is also uncertain whether the various senses are derived from the same source.
The origin of the noun is also uncertain; it is probably related to the verb.

Forbid it Venus! From the venal Fair / Snatch every charm, to Hay convert her Locks; / Pug up her nose, and pug-like make her stare; / And pit her pimpled visage with small-pox.

1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Lord Auckland’s Triumph; or, The Death of Crim. Con. A Pair of Prophetic Odes. Elegy to a Friend.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 312:

(construction) To fill or stop up (a space) with pug (noun sense 1), clay, sawdust, or other material by tamping; (specifically) to fill in (the space between joists of a floor, a partition, etc.) with some material to deaden sound, make fireproof, etc.

to pug clay ready for shaping

(construction, pottery) To mix and work (wet clay) until flexible, soft, and free from air pockets and suitable for making bricks, pottery, etc.

vaivata

to mix and work (wet clay) until flexible, soft, and free from air pockets


pug

en-noun

pug (countable and uncountable, plural pugs)

A brickfield certainly is not the place for girls and young women to work in; […] the work they have too, at least those who are pug-bearers, often causes indecency; they have to stoop down to the ground to pick the pug up from the bottom of the mill; at all events, they ought to have their clothes tied around them, indeed, the respectable young women usually have. I do not think there is any ill-treatment of the children as there used to be; they often get a bit of pug thrown at them, but they are not hit about with the hand or the "slice."

1866, Mr. Dean, witness, “Children’s Employment Commission (1862). Fifth Report of the Commissioners, […]. [Appendix to Fifth Report. Reports and Evidence of Assistant Commissioners. Evidence on Brickfields.—By Mr. H. W. Lord.]”, in Reports from Commissioners: […] (No. 3678), volume XXIV, London: […] George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, […] for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, paragraph 40, page 143, column 1:

The walls of the house were built of "pug," which means simply well-pounded mud, and has the disadvantage of refusing to adhere firmly to the frames of doors and casements, so that the banging of either, in windy weather, is apt to bring large pieces of the material crumbling down, and the house never looks tidy.

1872, Mrs. Edward Millett, chapter III, in An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 55:

Clay, soil, or other material which has been mixed and worked until flexible, soft, and free from air pockets and thus suitable for making bricks, pottery, etc.; also, any other material with a similar consistency or function, especially (Australia) auriferous (“gold-bearing”) clay.

vaivattu savi

clay, soil, or other material which has been mixed and worked until flexible, soft, and free from air pockets and thus suitable for making bricks, pottery, etc.; any other material with a similar consistency or function

Short for pug mill (“kind of mill for grinding, mixing, and working clay”).


tipper

(UK) A goods vehicle with a tippable body, used for carrying loose materials such as gravel or rubble; a tipper truck, tipper lorry, or dump truck.


waler

From (New South) Wale(s) + -er, the horse having been bred in the then colony of New South Wales in the 19th century.

Without reason, against prudence, and at a moment's notice, he fell in love with a frivolous, golden-haired girl who used to tear about Simla Mall on a high, rough waler, with a blue velvet jockey-cap crammed over her eyes.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Wressley of the Foreign Office”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2004, page 204:

There were Arabs of high degree, thoroughbred English horses, and very good-looking Walers among them, besides some tiny ponies, four of which, when harnessed together, drew a real Cinderella coach of solid silver.

1889, Annie Brassey, The Last Voyage, to India and Australia, in the ‘Sunbeam’, published 2010, page 46:

2007, "Waler", entry in Bonnie L. Hendricks, International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds, page 434,
Some maintain that the Waler is extinct, its blood living on only in the modern Australian Stock Horse and some of the feral brumbies that roam the outback.

By the 1850s, there was a thriving trade in selling the horses to the Indian Army as 'remounts'. Between 1834 and 1937, more than 300,000 Walers were sent to India.

2013, Peter Macinnis, The Big Book of Australian History, page 134:

(Australia, India) A breed of light saddle horse from Australia, once favoured as a warhorse.


waler

1998, Richard Lampo, Thomas Nosker, Doug Barno, John Busel, Ali Maher, Piyush Dutta, Robert Odello, Construction Productivity Advancement Research (CPAR) Program: Development and Demonstration of Composite FRP Fender, Loadbearing, and Sheet Piling Systems, US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, USACERL Technical Report 98/123, page 65,
Another consideration is when walers are placed between the piles (Figure 27) and to what extent the pile could deform before the load of the berthing vessel would be shared by the adjacent walers.

Backing for the plywood is provided by 2” × 12” wooden planks (walers in forming technology) spaced approximately 15 inches apart in the vertical direction and running the full length of the wall section. The form ties are ¾-inch pipe clamps, spaced 6 to 10 feet apart in the horizontal direction. In the typical concrete forms, walers are 2×4's and form ties are spaced at 2-foot intervals. By using 2×12 walers, form ties can be spaced at up to 10-foot intervals.

2007, David Easton, The Rammed Earth House, page 121:

An optional cast-in-place concrete waler is shown at each anchor row location. The concrete walers are cast against the earth after installation of the helical anchors and prior to excavation for the next lift. Concrete walers can reduce the required thickness of shotcrete for the remaining facing. The walers also improve punching resistance at the helical tie back locations.

2009, Howard A. Perko, Helical Piles: A Practical Guide to Design and Installation, page 374:

(structural engineering) A plank of wood, block of concrete, etc., used for support or to maintain required separation between components in order to help maintain the form of a construction under stress.


withe

From Middle English withe, withthe, from Old English wiþe, wiþþe (“cord, band, thong, fetter”), from Proto-Germanic *wiþiz, *wiþjǭ (“cord, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéh₁itis (“that which twines”), from *weyt- (“that which winds or bends, branch, switch”), from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, wind, bend”). Cognate with Danish vidje (“wicker”), Swedish vidja (“withe, wicker, osier”), Icelandic við, viðja (“a withe”), Latin vītis (“vine”), Russian ветвь (vetvʹ, “branch, bough, limb”). Doublet of vice (“a type of tool, etc.”). The brickwork and chimney architecture senses may have a different etymology, see wythe.

doublet

[…] single withe of brick laid flat in common bond reinforced vertically by 8" piers

1937, American Architect and Architecture:

[…] brick (single withe), one brick (two withes) or a brick-and-a-half thick. At the University of Virginia, Charlottesville , Thomas Jefferson demonstrated beautifully that a single withe of brick was adequate for[…]

[…] single-withe construction using concrete masonry units with the voids on the ends[…]

1994, James T. Frane, Craftsman's Illustrated Dictionary of Construction Terms, Craftsman Book Company, →ISBN, page 162:

[…] single-withe, or barrier, wall. Multiple-withe walls are also constructed, and can consist of composite brick-block walls or cavity walls.

1994, Comité euro-international du béton, Fastenings to Concrete and Masonry Structures: State of the Art Report, Thomas Telford, →ISBN:

[…] single withe of fired brick or stone masonry, referred to in Turkish as[…]

2001, Association for Preservation Technology, Bulletin - Association for Preservation Technology:

(masonry) Alternative spelling of wythe (“single section of bricks one unit thick”)


breaker

From Middle English breker, brekere, equivalent to break + -er. Cognate with Dutch breker, German Low German Breker, German Brecher.

буренце

small cask of water in case of shipwreck

at the coal breaker

A: Is John at the tipple? B: No, he's at the breaker today.

The building in which such a machine is placed.

(often plural) A person or company that specializes in breaking things; their yard.

(primarily plural) Ellipsis of car breaker; a car breaking company or its yard.

Their radios had been blocked by a breaker calling himself Yankee Bucket Mouth.

2015, Dave Wise, Stuart Wise, Like A Summer With A Thousand Julys:

breaker panel

electrical engineering
electrical engineering

(electrical engineering) Ellipsis of circuit breaker.


cradle

From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic *kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.

der

the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

A strong iron bar is fixed at the top of each cradle, to which the suspending chains are attached; the latter pass over the sheaves, and the cradles are kept in a horizontal position, by means of an adjusting rod placed above them

1853, Samuel Charles Brees, The Illustrated Glossary of Practical Architecture and Civil Engineering:

(carpentry) A ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster.


dowel

From Middle English dowle, dule, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French doelle (“the hollow part of a tool where the handle is”), from Frankish *duli (“hollow tube, pipe”), from Proto-Germanic *dulją (“pipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰel- (“curvature, hollow”). If so, then cognate with French douelle, douille.
Alternatively from Middle Low German dövel (“peg, plug”), from Old Saxon *dubil, from Proto-Germanic *dubilaz. If so, then cognate with Dutch deuvel (“wooden peg”), German Dübel (“dowel”).

(construction) A piece of wood or similar material fitted into a surface not suitable for fastening so that other pieces may be fastened to it.


gather

From Middle English gaderen, from Old English gaderian (“to gather, assemble”), from Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn (“to bring together, unite, gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, assemble, keep”).

der

(masonry) The soffit or under surface of the masonry required in gathering. See gather.


grader

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-grader.wav

From grade + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (measurement suffix) (sense 4).

The blade-grader is a long steel-framed carriage under which is fixed a steel blade capable of being tilted at various angles: its principal use is in trimming cutting-slopes.

1943 September and October, “Railway Construction and Operation at War Department Depots”, in Railway Magazine, page 262:

A machine used in road maintenance, construction, and mining for leveling large surfaces.


hydration

en-noun

hydration (usually uncountable, plural hydrations)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hydration.wav

From hydrate + -ion. The programming terms come from the concept of data lake.

(construction) The chemical reaction by which a substance (such as cement) combines with water, giving off heat to form a crystalline structure in its setting and hardening.


recover

en-verb

recover (third-person singular simple present recovers, present participle recovering, simple past and past participle recovered)

recovers (present singular third-person)
recovering (participle present)
recovered (participle past)
recovered (past)

(roofing) To add a new roof membrane or steep-slope covering over an existing one.


scribe

scribe (third-person singular simple present scribes, present participle scribing, simple past and past participle scribed)

scribes (present singular third-person)
scribing (participle present)
scribed (participle past)
scribed (past)

From Middle English scryben (“to write”), from Latin scrībō (“to write”). Doublet of shrive.
The carpentry sense comes from the way a workman uses a compass to mark a line before cutting.

(carpentry) To cut (something) in order to fit it closely to an irregular surface, as a baseboard to a floor which is out of level, a board to the curves of a moulding, etc.


span

From Middle English spanne, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spannō (“span, handbreadth”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”).
Cognate with Dutch span, spanne, German Spanne. The sense “pair of horses” is probably from Old English ġespan, ġespann (“a joining; a fastening together; clasp; yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?]. Cognate with Dutch gespan, German Gespann.

der

The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.

1961 January, “Talking of Trains: The Severn Bridge disaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5:

(architecture, construction) The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.

(architecture, construction) The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.


spandrel

From a diminutive in -el of Anglo-Norman spaundre, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French espandre (“to expand, extend, spread”). More at spawn, expand.
In the field of biology first used by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin.

(Philippines, construction, architecture) soffit (usually used to describe metal or corrugated plastic types of roof soffit)


thatch

en-noun

thatch (countable and uncountable, plural thatches)

Variant of thack, from Middle English thache, thach, from Old English þæc (“roof-covering”), from Proto-West Germanic *þak, from Proto-Germanic *þaką (“covering”), from (o-grade of) Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“cover”).
Cognate with Icelandic þak, Dutch dak, German Dach, Norwegian tak, Swedish tak, Danish tag; and with Latin toga, Albanian thak (“awn, beard, pin, peg, tassel, fringe”), Lithuanian stogas (“roof”). Related to Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”) and στέγη (stégē, “roof”). See also English deech, deck.

cog

Just over halfway up, we reached the Human settlement with its houses of stone and wood and thatch. This was a prewar place.

1989, Octavia E. Butler, “Part III, Chapter 7”, in Imago, page 210:

Straw, rushes, or similar, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain.


trowel

From Middle English trowell, trouel, truel, from Middle French truelle, from Late Latin truella, from Classical Latin trulla, the diminutive of trua (“ladle”). Doublet of trullo.

A mason’s tool, used in spreading and dressing mortar, and breaking bricks to shape them.

I need to dig a hole for these begonias; would you pass me that trowel?

A gardener’s tool, shaped like a scoop, used in taking up plants, stirring soil etc.


trowel

en-verb

trowel (third-person singular simple present trowels, present participle troweling or trowelling, simple past and past participle troweled or trowelled)

trowels (present singular third-person)
troweling (participle present)
trowelling (participle present)
troweled (participle past)
troweled (past)
trowelled (participle past)
trowelled (past)

Most finish coats are troweled smooth, but sometimes you will have to add cosmetic touches to make the patch match the surrounding plaster, texturing the surface randomly or uniformly with any of a variety of tools, ranging from sponges to special trowels.

1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 26:

(transitive) To pass over with a trowel.

The whole Planet of the Apes set-up has been ripe for metaphor – from slavery and Afro-American revolution to European conquest of the Americas, even the war on terror. But mercifully, there's no big subtext being troweled on here.

2014 July 1, Steve Rose, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: a primate scream - first look review”, in The Guardian:

(colloquial, figurative) To apply something heavily or unsubtly.


bedrock

en-noun

bedrock (countable and uncountable, plural bedrocks)

From bed (“a layer on top of which something else rests.”) + rock.

compound

bed<t:a layer on top of which something else rests.>

The denudation of the land was upon a grand scale. All superficial accumulations were swept away, and the bedrock was exposed.

1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XL, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 466:

Listen! It's big. Only eight to twenty feet to bedrock. There won't be a claim that don't run to half a million.

1912 October, Jack London, “The Stampede to Squaw Creek”, in Smoke Bellew, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co, →OCLC:

(countable, uncountable, geology, mining, engineering, construction) The solid rock found at some depth below the ground surface.


shift

en-noun

shift (countable and uncountable, plural shifts)

From Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.

cog

(construction) The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.


channel

→ Japanese: チャンネル (channeru)

→ Korean: 채널 (chaeneol)

→ Welsh: sianel

From Middle English chanel (also as canel, cannel, kanel), a borrowing from Old French chanel, canel, from Latin canālis (“groove; canal; channel”). Doublet of canal.

kanal

communication: single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation

kanaal

broadcasting: specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television

The channel is not very efficient as a beam or column when used alone, but built-up members may be constructed of channels assembled together with other structural shapes and connected by rivets or welds.

1960, “Structural Shapes”, in Construction Materials, Concrete Construction, and Engineer Computations, U.S. Government Printing Office:

mechanical engineering
mechanical engineering

(construction, mechanical engineering) A structural member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.


render

en-verb

render (third-person singular simple present renders, present participle rendering, simple past and past participle rendered)

renders (present singular third-person)
rendering (participle present)
rendered (participle past)
rendered (past)

→ Dutch: renderen

→ Portuguese: renderizar

From Middle English renderen, rendren, from Old French rendre (“render, give back”), from Late Latin rendere, from Latin reddere (“make, give back”).

to render with stucco

(construction) To cover a wall with a layer of plaster.


mud

en-noun

mud (countable and uncountable, plural muds)

From Middle English mud, mudde, mode, probably a borrowing from Middle Dutch mod, modde or Middle Low German mudde, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mud-, *mudra- (“mud”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mew- (“moist”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Mudde (“mud”), Middle High German mot (“mud”), Swedish modd (“slush”). Compare also suffixed variants West Frisian modder (“mud”), Dutch modder (“mud”), German Low German Mudder (“mud”), German Moder (“moldiness, mildew, decay”), English mother (“vinegar-forming sediment in alcohol”), Danish mudder (“mud”). Alternative etymology suggests the Proto-Germanic word is possibly borrowed from a Uralic language (compare e.g. Finnish muta (“mud”), Northern Sami mođđi (“mud”), from Proto-Uralic *muďa).

cog

throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick

(slang, construction) Wet concrete as it is being mixed, delivered and poured.


toenail

toenail clippings

The thin, horny, transparent plate covering the upper surface of the end of a toe.

но́готь

на пальце ноги


toenail

en-verb

toenail (third-person singular simple present toenails, present participle toenailing, simple past and past participle toenailed)

toenails (present singular third-person)
toenailing (participle present)
toenailed (participle past)
toenailed (past)

(transitive) To fasten two pieces of lumber together by applying nails or screws into both boards at an angle.


chisel

en-noun

chisel (usually uncountable, plural chisels)

From Middle English chisel, chesil, from Old English ċeosol, ċeosel, ċysel, ċisel, ċisil (“gravel, sand”), from Proto-West Germanic *kesul (“small stone, pebble”). See also chessom.


plaster

en-noun

plaster (countable and uncountable, plural plasters)

From Middle English plaster, plastre, from Old English plaster, from late Latin plastrum, shortened from Classical Latin emplastrum (“a plaster, bandage”); later reinforced by Anglo-Norman plastre.
The verb is from Middle English plastren, from the noun.

(countable) A cast made of plaster of Paris and gauze; a plaster cast.


fillet

From Middle English filet, vylette, felet, filette, flette, from Old French filet, diminutive of fil (“thread”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”).

(construction) A heavy bead of waterproofing compound or sealant material generally installed at the point where vertical and horizontal surfaces meet.

saumaus

construction: heavy bead of waterproofing


scaffolding

scaffolding (usually uncountable, plural scaffoldings)

Inherited from Middle English scaffaldyng, skaffaldyng, equivalent to scaffold + -ing.

inh+

[…] transparent scaffoldings partially draped with often hallucinatory nets of lines, gouges, hatching and cross-hatching that somehow also depict varying degrees of flesh, features and expression.

2007 December 21, The New York Times, “Museum and Gallery Listings”, in New York Times:

On the day of RAIL 's site visit, in heavy weather, the scaffolding and decking that engineers stand on were submerged deep under choppy water, with work suspended. "We have to work around the tides," explained Project Director Alan Venables. "The wind pushes the tide up and the waves get larger. That causes some problems with the scaffold."

2023 March 22, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Island Line to reopen to Ryde Pier in June... possibly”, in RAIL, number 979, page 24:

A temporary modular system of tubes, bamboo or wood forming a framework used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures.

سِقَالَات

system of tubes or poles used to support people and material

(programming) Source code etc. that is incomplete and serves as a basis for further development.

We refer to the process by which socialization agents support emotional activity within the child as emotional scaffolding.

2013, Michael F. Mascolo, Sharon Griffin, What Develops in Emotional Development?, page 205:


post

Inherited from Old English post (“pillar, door-post”) and Latin postis (“a post, a door-post”) through Old French. .


efflorescence

en-noun

efflorescence (countable and uncountable, plural efflorescences)

/ˌɛfləˈɹɛsəns/

Borrowed from French efflorescence, from Latin efflōrēscō, which was from ex- (“out”) + flōrēscō (“to blossom”).

(construction) An encrustation of soluble salts, commonly white, deposited on the surface of stone, brick, plaster, or mortar; usually caused by free alkalies leached from mortar or adjacent concrete as moisture moves through it.


bond

bond (countable and uncountable, plural bonds)

From Middle English bond, a variant of band, from Old English beand, bænd, bend (“bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown”), from Proto-Germanic *bandaz, *bandiz (“band, fetter”). Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Swedish band. Doublet of Bund. Related to bind.

(construction) In building, a specific pattern of bricklaying, based on overlapping rows or layers to give strength.


bond

en-verb

bond (third-person singular simple present bonds, present participle bonding, simple past and past participle bonded)

bonds (present singular third-person)
bonding (participle present)
bonded (participle past)
bonded (past)

(transitive, construction) To lay bricks in a specific pattern.

appareiller

construction: to lay bricks in a specific pattern


English bond

(masonry) In bricklaying, an arrangement of bricks such that one course has the short sides of the bricks (headers) facing outwards, and the next course has the long sides of the bricks (stretchers) facing outwards.

aparell anglès

in bricklaying, an arrangement of bricks


Flemish bond

(masonry) In bricklaying, an arrangement of bricks such that each course consists of alternate bricks having their short sides (headers) and long sides (stretchers) facing outwards, with alternate courses being offset.


tusk

From Middle English tusk (also tux, tusch), from Old English tūx, tūsc (“canine tooth, tusk, molar”), from Proto-West Germanic *tų̄sk, *tunsk, from Proto-Germanic *tunþskaz (“canine tooth”), extended form of *tanþs (“tooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tusk (“tooth”), West Frisian tosk (“tooth”), Icelandic toskur (“a tusk, tooth”) (whence the Old Norse and Icelandic Ratatoskr and Ratatoskur respectively), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 (tunþus, “tooth”) and *𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌹 (*tundi, “thorn, tooth”). Doublet of tush. More at tooth.

inh

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(carpentry) A projecting member like a tenon, and serving the same or a similar purpose, but composed of several steps, or offsets, called teeth.


construction

en-noun

construction (countable and uncountable, plural constructions)

→ Mongolian: констракшн (konstrakšn)

From Middle English construccioun, construction, from Old French construction, from Latin cōnstructiō, from cōnstruere.
Morphologically construct + -ion.

(geometry) A geometric figure of arcs and line segments that is drawable with a straightedge and compass.


airspace

airspace (countable and uncountable, plural airspaces)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-airspace.wav

(εθνικός) εναέριος χώρος m ((ethnikós) enaérios chóros, literally “(national) airspace”)

(construction) The cavity in a cavity wall containing air for insulation.


substrate

(construction) A surface to which a substance adheres.


construct

Borrowed from Latin cōnstrūctus, from cōnstruō (“to heap together”), from com- (“together”) + struō (“I heap up, pile”). Doublet of construe.

(genetics) A segment of nucleic acid, created artificially, for transplantation into a target cell or tissue.


construct

en-verb

construct (third-person singular simple present constructs, present participle constructing, simple past and past participle constructed)

constructs (present singular third-person)
constructing (participle present)
constructed (participle past)
constructed (past)

We constructed the radio from spares.

A wall constructed of random stones.

(transitive) To build or form (something) by assembling parts.

A sentence may be constructed with a subject, verb and object.

The Vietnam War films are forms of memory that function to provide collective rememberings, to construct history, and to subsume within them the experience of the veterans.

(transitive, grammar) To build (a sentence, an argument, etc.) by arranging words or ideas.

Construct a circle that touches each vertex of the given triangle.

(transitive, geometry) To draw (a geometric figure) by following precise specifications and using geometric tools and techniques.


dado

From Italian dado, first attested in 1664.

(carpentry) The rectangular channel in a board cut across the grain.


dado

dado (third-person singular simple present dadoes, present participle dadoing, simple past and past participle dadoed)

dadoes (present singular third-person)
dadoing (participle present)
dadoed (participle past)
dadoed (past)


dap

Onomatopoeic, from the sound made when a person runs while wearing daps.

(carpentry) A notch cut in one timber to receive another.


browning

en-noun

browning (countable and uncountable, plural brownings)

(masonry) A smooth coat of brown mortar, usually the second coat, and the preparation for the finishing coat of plaster.


bricks and mortar

brick and mortar
brick and mortar#English


ballast

ballast (usually uncountable, plural ballasts)

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

(construction) A material, such as aggregate or precast concrete pavers, which employs its mass and the force of gravity to hold single-ply roof membranes in place.


striation

striation (countable and uncountable, plural striations)

(roofing) a parallel series of small grooves, channels, or impressions typically within a metal roof panel used to help reduce the potential for oil-canning.


lookout

(construction) A joist that extends in cantilever out from the exterior wall (or wall plate) of a building, supporting the roof sheathing and providing a nailing surface for the fascia boards.


cope

From Middle English cope, from Medieval Latin cāpa (“cape”) Doublet of cap, cape, and chape.

(construction) A covering piece on top of a wall exposed to the weather, usually made of metal, masonry, or stone, and sloped to carry off water.


bradawl

‘I wish I wos behind him vith a bradawl,’ muttered the long one.

1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers 36

For the first adjustment [to a door that keeps swinging open], you might need to remove the screws from the frame, move the hinge slightly, and then make new screw holes with a bradawl and reinsert the screws.

2016 January 30, Jeff Howell, “Swinging doors: it's not open and shut”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property), page 15:

An awl with a blade similar to a small, straight screwdriver; used for making holes, especially in wood to take screws.


keyhole

(carpentry) A hole or excavation in beams intended to be joined together, to receive the key that fastens them.


pancake

en-verb

pancake (third-person singular simple present pancakes, present participle pancaking, simple past and past participle pancaked)

pancakes (present singular third-person)
pancaking (participle present)
pancaked (participle past)
pancaked (past)

Inherited from Middle English pancake, panne cake, pankake, ponkake, equivalent to pan + cake.
Perhaps adapted from Middle Low German pankôke, pannekôke, from Old Saxon *pannakōko (suggested by derivatives Old Saxon pannakōkilo and pannakōkilīn), where the compound is much older; compare Old High German phankuohho (8th century), whence Middle High German phankuoche, German Pfannkuchen (“pancake”); further
Saterland Frisian Ponkouke, Ponkuuke (“pancake”), West Frisian pankoek (“pancake”), Dutch pannenkoek (“pancake”), German Low German Pannkook (“pancake”).
The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.

(construction, demolition) To collapse one floor after another.


nail down

nail down (third-person singular simple present nails down, present participle nailing down, simple past and past participle nailed down)

nails down (present singular third-person)
nailing down (participle present)
nailed down (participle past)
nailed down (past)

Nail down the shelf, then paint it.


stretcher

The jointed stretcher is used in place of the sectional bottom board, with two sideboards, one each side of stretcher. The boat set up this way only weights 20 pounds, and makes a very convenient boat for trout-fishing, duck-hunting, or exploring in ponds or streams where the paddle will do as well as the oars.

1884, J. W. Collins, Bulletin of the United States National Museum: Great International Fisheries Exhibition, page 703:

Directly the oar has been disengaged from the water, all pressure on the stretcher ceases, and the strain of the recovery of the body is eased by a slight pull with the feet on the straps of the stretcher.

1900, Alfred Edward Thomas Watson, The Young Sportsman, page 479:

Betwean each beam of the boat is also fastened a piece of timber called a stretcher or footspur, against which they place their feet when rowing, to enable them to have a more complete command of their oar.

1909, Samuel McSkimin, The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus, from the Earliest Records Till 1839, page 362:

Each rower's feet are set in shoes which are secured in the boat in a stretcher (or foot board) set into a fixed position to suit the length of the rower's legs.

2003, J. Alswang, The South African Dictionary of Sport, page 203:

[…] these seem to indicate a thwart, foot-timber (stretcher), thole-pin combination for rowing.

2014, Sean Mcgrail, Ancient Boats in North-West Europe, page 80:

(nautical) A board against which a rower places his feet.

jalkatuki

nautical: board against which a rower places his feet


rafter

/ˈɹɑːftə(ɹ)/


pretension

pretension (third-person singular simple present pretensions, present participle pretensioning, simple past and past participle pretensioned)

pretensions (present singular third-person)
pretensioning (participle present)
pretensioned (participle past)
pretensioned (past)

Coordinate term: posttension

(construction) To apply tension to reinforcing strands before concrete is poured in.


pointing

en-noun

pointing (countable and uncountable, plural pointings)

Verfugen

filling of gaps in brickwork or masonry with mortar

(usually singular or collective, sometimes proscribed) Mortar that has been placed between bricks to fill the gap.

Fugenmörtel

mortar that has been placed between bricks or stones to fill the gaps


entrench

en-verb

entrench (third-person singular simple present entrenches, present participle entrenching, simple past and past participle entrenched)

entrenches (present singular third-person)
entrenching (participle present)
entrenched (participle past)
entrenched (past)

/ɪnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

/ɛnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

/ɛnˈtɹɛnt͡ʃ/

From en- + trench. First attested in the 1550s.

(literally) To cut in; to furrow; to make trenches in or upon.

(construction, archaeology) To dig or excavate a trench; to trench.


wattle and daub

A structure of interwoven branches and twigs plastered with mud, clay or dung, used in the construction of dwellings, especially as infill in a half-timbered wall


break ground

break ground (third-person singular simple present breaks ground, present participle breaking ground, simple past broke ground, past participle broken ground)

breaks ground (present singular third-person)
breaking ground (participle present)
broke ground (past)
broken ground (participle past)

They broke ground on the new library last month.

Try to break a little more land every year; sod corn is good for fodder. Keep turning the land, and always put up more hay than you need.

1913, Willa Cather, O Pioneers!, chapter 2:

Just over a year on from Notice-to-Proceed, HS2 Ltd launched the first of ten tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will dig 64 miles of tunnels on Phase 1. Florence broke ground on May 13, and was joined by Cecilia in the week commencing June 29 [...] to bore a pair of ten-mile-long tunnels beneath the Chilterns.

2021 July 14, Paul Stephen, “A portal into the future”, in RAIL, number 935, page 52:

Then there's the archaeology. As mentioned, the new station sits on part of what used to be Metchley Roman Fort, dating back to c.48AD. Those working on the project had to stay in close contact with Historic England to gain consent whenever they broke ground.

2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 61:

(literally) To begin digging in the earth at the start of a new construction, or, originally, for cultivation.

raivata

to begin digging at the start of a new construction or for cultivation


flush

flush (third-person singular simple present flushes, present participle flushing, simple past and past participle flushed)

flushes (present singular third-person)
flushing (participle present)
flushed (participle past)
flushed (past)

Probably from Etymology 1 according to the American Heritage Dictionary.

(masonry) To fill in (joints); to point the level; to make them flush.


dead weight

en-noun

dead weight (countable and uncountable, plural dead weights)


cat's-paw

cat's-paw (plural cat's-paws or cats'-paws)

From cat + paw. In most senses, due to a resemblance of shape. In its senses as a pawn to another's interests or analysis, variant of earlier cat's-foot, derived from European tales of a monkey (attested as early as 1456 but sometimes misattributed to the 16th-century monkey of Pope Julius II) who used a sleeping puppy or cat's foot to rake hot chestnuts out of a fire, taken as a metaphor for rulers' ill use of their subjects. Now usually understood in light of Jean de La Fontaine's 1679 fable of the "The Monkey and the Cat" (sometimes misattributed to Aesop), in which the monkey fools the cat into removing the chestnuts through flattery and promises of shared reward. The cat removes the chestnuts one by one, burning his paw while the monkey eats each in turn. A maid then enters and chases them both away. La Fontaine's moral concludes that princes should not endure real losses for mere flattery from their king.

an unrelated metaphor from a separate story

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

Filed Dec. 13, 1952. Cat's Paw. For Hand Tools for Pulling Nails and Spikes.

1954 November 10, U.S. Patent Office, Official Gazette, page 321:

(US carpentry) A small crowbar with a handle at a right angle to a blade with a V-shaped notch, principally used by carpenters to remove nails.


transmittal

transmittal (countable and uncountable, plural transmittals)

(construction) An item of correspondence.


STP

This building would suit alternative uses STP.

(construction) Initialism of subject to planning.


waterworks

From water + works (“machine, mechanism; factory or factories”).

compound

/ˈwɔːtəˌwəːks/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-waterworks.wav

(construction, archaic) Engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water), such as the collection and distribution of water, drainage, irrigation, etc.

waterwerk

(archaic in English) engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water)


header

Coordinate term: stretcher

This wall has four header courses.

(masonry) A brick that is laid sideways (on its largest face), for example at the top of a wall or within the brickwork, with its smallest side showing (oriented so that that side is wider than it is tall).


brick red

Of a warm brownish-red colour similar to that of red clay bricks.


salamander

/ˈsæləˌmɑːndə/

From Middle English salamandre, from Anglo-Norman salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra), of uncertain origin (per Beekes, likely Pre-Greek); possibly of Iranian origin, see Persian سمندر (samandar) for more information.

The necessary fires alone -- the salamanders and tinner's pots -- had caused dozens of small blazes.

2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, Vintage Books, page 192:

(construction) A portable stove used to heat or dry buildings under construction.


trim

en-verb

trim (third-person singular simple present trims, present participle trimming, simple past and past participle trimmed)

trims (present singular third-person)
trimming (participle present)
trimmed (participle past)
trimmed (past)

From Middle English trimen, trymen, trümen, from Old English trymman (“to make firm; strengthen”), from Proto-West Germanic *trummjan, from Proto-Germanic *trumjaną (“to make fast; strengthen”), from Proto-Germanic *trumaz (“firm; strong; sound”).

tasapainottaa

to modify the angle of a ship relative to the water

(transitive, carpentry, of timber) To dress; to make smooth.


frame up

en-verb

frame up (third-person singular simple present frames up, present participle framing up, simple past and past participle framed up)

frames up (present singular third-person)
framing up (participle present)
framed up (participle past)
framed up (past)

(transitive, construction) To erect the initial walls and roof of (a new building).


breakthrough

From break + through. Compare German Durchbruch and Dutch doorbraak (“breakthrough”, literally “through-break”).

gennembrud

(engineering) penetration of a physical barrier

(construction) The penetration of a separating wall or the remaining distance to an adjacent hollow (a crosscut in mining) or between two parts of a tunnel build from both ends; knockthrough.


load-bearing

1908, Frederick E. Turneaure, Editor-in-Chief, Cyclopedia of Civil Engineering
The different forms of partitions that are not load-bearing will be considered under "Fireproofing."

The reactor units each called for a circular pit over 300ft. in diameter, excavated to a depth of 20ft. to reach a suitable load-bearing stratum.

1958, Australian Atomic Energy Commission, Australian Atomic Energy Symposium, 1958: Proceedings of a Symposium on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Australia:

Alternating sandstone and limestone (the limestone being used in façades exposed to the winter rains or in more load-bearing areas) created a most pleasing decorative effect.

2001, Akram F. Khater, Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender, and the Middle Class in Lebanon, 1870-1920:

It was in baptism (and in consequence in penance) that the theologically most load-bearing aspects of the liturgical life of the Church were concentrated.

2004, G. R. Evans, The First Christian Theologians, an Introduction to Theology in the Early Church:

(chiefly construction and civil engineering) Able to support a load.


T

en-noun

T (countable and uncountable, plural Ts)


buckle

buckle (countable and uncountable, plural buckles)

Origin uncertain. Probably from Middle English bokelen (“to arch the body”), from Middle French boucler (“to bulge”, literally “to take the shape of a shield boss”), from the same ultimate origin as Etymology 1 above. In some senses, possibly from buck (“to bend, yield, buckle”) + -le (frequentative suffix).

suf

(countable) A distortion; a bend, bulge, or kink.

(roofing) An upward, elongated displacement of a roof membrane, frequently occurring over deck joints or insulation, which may indicate movement of the roof assembly.


dutchman

From Dutchman. Attested mainly in the US from the late 19th century.

(carpentry, masonry) A piece of wood or stone used to repair a larger piece, shaped such that it fills as exactly as possible a void or cavity that is to be repaired.


reo

(Australia, construction, informal) Steel used to reinforce concrete.


cladding

en-noun

cladding (countable and uncountable, plural claddings)

From clad + -ing. Compare clothing, ultimately from the same source.

(construction) A weatherproof, insulating or decorative covering fixed to the outside of a building.


PPE

PPE (countable and uncountable, plural PPEs)

Any time you turn on a power tool, use a saw to cut wood, or get on the roof of your house to make a roof repair, PPE can help protect you.

2019 July 9, John James, “What Workshop Safety Gear (PPE) Do You Need to Own?”, in ChooseToolbox.com, Two Rabbits Media & Marketing, archived from the original on 2021-02-09:

The home secretary has said she is sorry if people feel there has been a failure to supply sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) to NHS staff, as it was revealed that 19 UK health workers had died after contracting coronavirus.

2020 April 11, Nazia Parveen, “Priti Patel says ‘sorry if people feel there have been failings’ over PPE”, in The Guardian:

In addition, there are basic PPE principles and practices that must be understood to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in handling a pesticide.

2021, “Dress for Success! Some Things to Know About PPE Before You Handle a Pesticide”, in National Ag Safety Database, retrieved 2021-02-04:

Having donned our PPE, we walk through the site to the prefab that controls access to the tunnel.

2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 41:

personal protective equipment
personal protective equipment#English

Initialism of personal protective equipment.

With his sights on the astonishingly narrow educational formation of the government and opposition front benches, he says: ‘PPE has a lot to answer for.’

2011, David Runciman, “Socialism in One Country”, in London Review of Books, XXXIII.15:

Philosophy, Politics and Economics
w:en:Philosophy, Politics and Economics

(UK) Initialism of Philosophy, Politics and Economics, a university degree course.

bulletin board system
bulletin board system

(computing, historical) Initialism of PCBoard programming executable: a software component used to extend the features of a bulletin board system.


LF

LF (countable and uncountable, plural LFs)

(architecture, engineering, construction) Initialism of linear feet.


hacking

hacking (usually uncountable, plural hackings)

From Middle English hackynge, hakkynge, hacckinge, equivalent to hack + -ing.

(obsolete, masonry) The separation of a course of stones into two smaller courses, when there are not enough large stones to form a single course.


SOP

SOP (countable and uncountable, plural SOPs)

(construction) Initialism of setting-out point.


sympathetic

en-adj

sympathetic (comparative more sympathetic, superlative most sympathetic)

more sympathetic (comparative)
most sympathetic (superlative)

Mid 17th century in the sense “relating to an affinity or paranormal influence”, from Latin sympathēticus. By surface analysis, sympathy + -etic (“pertaining to”); compare pathetic. Displaced native Old English efnþrōwiende.

съчувствен

of, related to, showing, or characterized by sympathy

симпатичен

of a person: attracting the liking of others

Attracting the liking of others. (of a person)

(construction) Designed in a sensitive or appropriate way.


saddle

→ Japanese: サドル (sadoru)

Homer Tunnel
Milford Sound
Oxford English Dictionary

From Middle English sadel, from Old English sadol, from Proto-West Germanic *sadul, from Proto-Germanic *sadulaz (“saddle”). Further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *sod-dʰlo-, from *sed- (“to sit”) + *-dʰlom (a variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting instruments or tools)), though the Oxford English Dictionary says this “presents formal difficulties”.
Cognates
* Danish sadel
* Dutch zadel
* German Sattel
* Icelandic söðull
* Low German Sadel
* Russian седло́ (sedló)
* Saterland Frisian Soadel
* Scots sadil
* Swedish sadel
* West Frisian seal

saal

seat for a rider placed on the back of a horse or other animal

satula

something resembling a saddle in appearance or shape

satula

depression located along the axial trend of an anticline

Something resembling a saddle (sense 1) in appearance or shape.

A small sloped or tapered structure that helps channel surface water to drains.


flashing

en-noun

flashing (countable and uncountable, plural flashings)

From flash + -ing.
* (weatherproofing): From original flashing material of copper or aluminum that reflects flashes of sunlight.

(roofing) Components used to weatherproof or seal roof system edges at perimeters, penetrations, walls, expansion joints, valleys, drains and other places where the roof covering is interrupted or terminated.


nog

(carpentry) A wooden block, the size of a brick, built into a wall, as a hold for the nails of woodwork.

(carpentry) One of the square logs of wood used in a pile to support the roof of a mine.


backhoe

Coordinate term: front-end loader

en:component that digs, part of a piece of heavy equipment

A piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a digging bucket or scoop on the end of an articulated arm, drawn backwards to move earth; used in excavator/digger and backhoe tractors.

Meronym: front-end loader

The backhoe is only one type of heavy equipment for rent.[…]I heard about a couple of tool-rental outfits near Chicago that were doing a brisk business renting backhoes and other heavy equipment to homeowners

1967 June, Charles E. Rhine, “How to Rent a Backhoe”, in Popular Science, page 149:

I'll recommend a good way to calculate backhoe production rates. Then we'll look at the two backhoes you'll be using, the wheeled backhoe and the tracked backhoe.

1987, Dave Roberts, Pipe and Excavation Contracting, page 173:

2010, Robert Day, Foundation Engineering Handbook, 2nd edition, page 2.49,
Backhoe pits and trenches are an economical means of performing subsurface exploration. The backhoe can quickly excavate the trench that can then be used to observe and test the in situ soil (see Fig. 2.29).

en:tractor with digger and loader components

(chiefly US, Canada, Australia) A multi-purpose tractor with a front-mounted loading bucket and a rear-mounted digging bucket. The tractor combines a front-end loader/loader (component) and an excavator/digger (component).


sinker

(construction) A sinker nail, used for framing in current construction.


blister

blister (countable and uncountable, plural blisters)

→ Polish: blister

From Middle English blister, from Old French blestre, from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Dutch blyster (“swelling”), Old Norse blastr (“a blowing”).

(roofing) An enclosed pocket of air, which may be mixed with water or solvent vapor, trapped between impermeable layers of felt or between the membrane and substrate.


prism

→ Japanese: プリズム (purizumu)

→ Korean: 프리즘 (peurijeum)

→ Thai: ปริซึม (bprí-sʉ̂m)

[ˈpʰɹ̠̊ɪzm̩]

Learned borrowing from Late Latin prisma (“(geometry) prism”), from Ancient Greek πρίσμᾰ (prísmă, “anything sawn; sawdust; (Koine, geometry) prism”), from πρῐ́ζω (prĭ́zō) (a variant of πρῑ́ω (prī́ō, “to saw”), further etymology unknown) + -μᾰ (-mă, suffix forming neuter nouns denoting the effect or result of an action, etc.).

prizëm

transparent block used to reflect or refract light

(geometry) A polyhedron with parallel ends of the same polygonal shape and size, the other faces being parallelogram-shaped sides.

(construction) A cutting (“open passage at a level lower than the surrounding terrain, dug for a canal, railway, or road to go through”) or an embankment shaped like a prism (sense 1) or a number of prisms, such that its volume can be easily calculated.

leikkaus

cutting or embankment shaped like a prism or number of prisms


carpentry

en-noun

carpentry (countable and uncountable, plural carpentries)

From Middle English carpentrie, from Anglo-Norman carpenterie, from Old Northern French (compare French charpenterie). See carpenter.

木作

work and objects produced by a carpenter

(uncountable) The trade of cutting and joining timber in order to construct buildings or other structures; woodworking.


clinker

clinker (countable and uncountable, plural clinkers)

From Dutch klinkaerd, later klinker, from klinken (“to ring, resound”).

An intermediate product in the manufacture of Portland cement, obtained by sintering limestone and alumino-silicate materials such as clay into nodules in a cement kiln.


stringer

(carpentry) The side rail supporting the rungs of a ladder or the steps of a flight of stairs.


sleeper

Compare Norwegian sleip (“a sleeper (a timber); as adjective, slippery, smooth”). See slape.

cog

(carpentry) A structural beam in a floor running perpendicular to both the joists beneath and floorboards above.

траверса

structural timber in a floor perpendicular to the joists and floorboards

Lagerholz

structural beam at the bottom of a wall, a roof framework or a similar structure


reticulated

(masonry) Constructed with diamond-shaped stones.


corrugated iron

A special reserved enclosure with sandbags and a corrugated iron roof was set aside for three members of the Royal Family.

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed:

An iron sheet building material, usually galvanised, which has been pressed into corrugations.


tarpaper

en-noun

tarpaper (countable and uncountable, plural tarpapers)

A heavy paper, coated with tar, used to waterproof walls and roofs.


riser

From Middle English ryser, risere, equivalent to rise + -er.

(carpentry) A vertical part of a step on a staircase.


baseboard

(US, carpentry, interior decoration) A panel or molding between the floor and the interior wall of a structure.


cutback

cutback (countable and uncountable, plural cutbacks)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cutback.wav

(roofing) Solvent-thinned bitumen used in cold process roofing adhesives, cements and coatings.


blowout

en:damage at exit side of drilled hole or sawn edge

(carpentry, woodworking) The damage done to the exit side of a drilled hole or sawn edge when no sacrificial backerboard is used during the drilling or sawing: the drill bit's or sawblade's exit on the far side causes chips of wood to be broken from the edge.


hoarding

Making inquiries she came to a hoarding, within which were excavations denoting the foundations of a building; and on the boards without one or two large posters announcing that the foundation-stone of the chapel about to be erected would be laid that afternoon at three o’clock by a London preacher of great popularity among his body.

1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, chapter VIII, in Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1896, →OCLC:

A hoarding is a legal requirement for the safety of the public on a building site. There are rules about its height and construction. But of course it is also the perfect opportunity: a blank canvas on which to show a vision of the life soon to be lived behind it.

2014 September 25, Hugo Macdonald, “Could those utopian hoardings for new developments get any more nauseating?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

They’re a familiar sight to many: the eye-roll-inducing, over-the-top development hoardings and adverts that celebrate the (inevitably luxury and, to most people, unaffordable) developments soon to be added to the city skyline.

2015 October 2, Francesca Perry, “What are the most ridiculous property development adverts you've seen?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

The west side is one massive building site, although it's hard to appreciate what's going on behind all the hoardings.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 57:

(construction, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A temporary fence-like structure built around building work to add security and prevent accidents to the public.


roofer

Ivan, Kirill and Vasilisa are “roofers,” a loose-knit group of insanely non-acrophobic daredevils who scam and sneak their way to the tops of Russia’s highest buildings.

2014 May 6, Kevin O'Flynn, “High Times: Meet the Russian Kids Who Take the World's Riskiest Photos”, in RollingStone.com:

This year, as part of his annual “Troublemaker Award,” the startup mentor and entrepreneur decided to spotlight a Ukrainian stunt-climber -- or, "roofer" -- who struck a blow for his home nation by sticking it to neighboring Russia.

2014 September 10, Karsten Strauss, “Ukrainian Troublemaker Receives $10,000 Award For 'Redecorating' Moscow”, in Forbes:

“There aren’t many places in Latin America for the roofer to get on so our main aim was to climb Christ the Redeemer,” he said.

2015 December 11, “Daredevils capture breathtaking views atop Christ the Redeemer”, in New York Post:

Many people say that I don’t look like roofer, which is really good when I try to get into a building which is really good secured. I started roofing two years ago with some friends.

2016 February 26, “This Is What It's Like to Climb the 3rd-Tallest Building in Shanghai”, in Inverse:

A daredevil who performs stunts on tops of skyscrapers.

ру́фер

a daredevil who performs stunts on tops of skyscrapers


strut

The origin of sense 1 of the noun (“beam or rod providing support”) is unknown; it is probably ultimately from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną, *strūtijaną (“to be puffed up, swell”): see further at etymology 1. The English word is cognate with Icelandic strútur (“hood jutting out like a horn”), Low German strutt (“rigid, stiff”), Norwegian strut (“nozzle, spout”), Swedish strut (“paper cornet”).
The verb is derived from sense 1 of the noun.
Sense 2 of the noun (“act of strutting”) is derived from the verb: see above.

cog

This alteration will obviate the necessity for the injudicious iron struts which are now introduced between the backs of the columns and the face of the pilasters, and which, in a practical point of view, afford little or no advantage, except against a direct shock; and even in many such cases they have failed in that object; for in such of them as have been struck, permanent alteration of the strut has taken place, which now has the effect of holding those portions of the shaft with which they are connected out of their places.

1833 August 26, R. Macdonald Stephenson, Charles J. Blunt, “Blackfriars’ Bridge Repairs”, in The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume XX, number 551, London: M. Salmon, […], published 1 March 1834, →OCLC, page 358, column 2:

Replacing and Aligining Wing-tip Float Struts. Loosen the brace wires and stagger wires on the wing-tip float. Remove the bolts or pins from the strut fittings, both on the float and on the wing surface; then lift the strut out. Carefully replace the strut in a like manner. This is a very simple operation but care must be taken to align the strut with the one in the rear and the one opposite.

1919 July, M. E. Williams et al., “Seaplane No. 3, Seaplane No. 4 (Boat Type)”, in United States Navy Aviation Mechanics’ Training System for Plane Maintenance Force: Course Manual for Quartermasters’ (A) Course (Form MUL. 306—N. 500), New York, N.Y.: United States Navy Gas Engine School, Columbia University; Great Lakes, Ill.: United States Naval Training Station, →OCLC, part 2 (Technical Course), pages 587–588:

MacPherson struts are found attached to the front wheels of just about every front-drive car on the road and at the fronts of many rear-wheel-drive cars, as well. [...] The MacPherson strut is a single unit that contains the shock absorber and coil spring. In addition, the strut acts as the upper arm in a typical suspension.

1992 January, Don Chaikin, “Car Care: Saturday Mechanic: Replacing MacPherson Struts and Shocks”, in Joe Oldham, editor, Popular Mechanics, volume 169, number 1, New York, N.Y.: The Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 72 and 74:

(chiefly construction) A beam or rod providing support.


strut

en-verb

strut (third-person singular simple present struts, present participle strutting, simple past and past participle strutted)

struts (present singular third-person)
strutting (participle present)
strutted (participle past)
strutted (past)

Masonry flying arches strutting the retaining walls in Chorley cutting, Manchester-Blackpool line, L.M.S.R.

1939 November, “Pertinent Paragraphs”, in Railway Magazine, page 358, photo caption:

(transitive, chiefly construction, also figuratively) To brace or support (something) by a strut or struts; to hold (something) in place or strengthen by a diagonal, transverse, or upright support.

опаянтвам

to brace or support (something) by a strut or struts


scaffold

From Middle English scaffold, scaffalde, from Anglo-Norman schaffaut, eschaffaut, eschafal, eschaiphal, escadafaut (“platform to see a tournament”) (Modern French échafaud), from Old French es- (indicating movement away or separation) (from Latin ex- (“out, away”)) + chafaud, chafaut, chafault, caafau, caafaus, cadefaut (“scaffold for executing a criminal”), from Vulgar Latin *catafalcum (“viewing stage”), possibly from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “back; against”) + Latin -falicum (from fala, phala (“wooden gallery or tower; siege tower”)).

der

United States Capitol
scaffold (disambiguation)

An elevated platform on which dead bodies are ritually disposed of, as by some Native American tribes.


injection

en-noun

injection (countable and uncountable, plural injections)

/ɪnˈd͡ʒɛk.ʃən/

Nicolas Bourbaki
Éléments de mathématique

Borrowed from Middle French injection, from Latin iniectio. The mathematical sense is from French injection, introduced by Nicolas Bourbaki in their treatise Éléments de mathématique.

(construction) The act of inserting materials like concrete grout or gravel by using high pressure pumps.


tingle

cognate with the Middle High German zingel

The tingle is fastened on the top of the brick by a small pat of mortar, on which is placed a piece of brick to keep the tingle firm.

1915 February, “British Method of Laying Bricks”, in Building Age, volume 37, page 68:

a tingle is used to prevent the line from sagging in the middle if it is being used on a long wall

1983, W. G. Nash, Brickwork - Volume 1, page 76:

To prevent a long line sagging, it can be given intermediate support with a tingle plate.

2013, Michael Hammett, Brickwork and Paving: For House and Garden:

(masonry) An attachment in the middle of a long guide line to keep it from sagging.


tingle

en-verb

tingle (third-person singular simple present tingles, present participle tingling, simple past and past participle tingled)

tingles (present singular third-person)
tingling (participle present)
tingled (participle past)
tingled (past)

If there is much length of line it will require tingling up to keep it from sagging. To tingle a line it is best to have a plumbing place at that point were the tingle is to be fixed so as to ensure the work beging kept true.

(masonry) To secure the middle of a guide line by means of a tingle.


reprise

From Middle English reprise (noun) and reprisen (verb), from Old French reprise, from reprendre. In some senses borrowed anew from Modern French reprise.

(construction) In masonry, the return of a moulding in an internal angle.


glazed

a shelter at the bus stop with glazed sides and rear

a glazed garden shed

(architecture, construction) Having glass in the windows.


sump

From Middle English sompe, either from Middle Dutch somp, sump or Middle Low German sump from Old Saxon *sump, from Proto-West Germanic *sump, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. Doublet of swamp.

(construction) An intentional depression around a drain or scupper that promotes drainage.


asphalt concrete

en-noun

asphalt concrete (countable and uncountable, plural asphalt concretes)

A material often used for road surfacing, composed of a hard, granular material such as crushed stone combined with asphalt as a binder. (Often clipped elliptically as asphalt.)


two by four

Well, Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, And smote the water with a two by four

1959, Nat King Cole, Oh, Mary, don't you weep.:

Date debatable, Ledbelly - from a traditional folk song, Linin' Track
Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, smotin' that water with a two by four

(chiefly Canada, US) A length of sawn wood of cross section approximately 2 inches by 4 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber (dimension or dimensional lumber).

бичме́

A length of sawn wood 2 inches by 4 inches


jamb

From Middle English jambe, jaumbe, from Old French jambe (“leg”), from Late Latin gamba (“hock, shank, leg, thigh”), from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “turning post, bend or flexure”). Doublet of gam, gamb, gamba, and jambe.

der

(architecture, interior decorating, carpentry) Either of the vertical components that form the side of an opening in a wall, such as that of a door frame, window frame, or fireplace.

яңаҡ

vertical component that form the side of an opening in a wall


ice dam

(roofing) A mass of ice formed at the transition from a warm to a cold roof surface, frequently formed by refreezing meltwater at the overhang of a steep roof, causing ice and water to back up under roofing materials.

ice dam membrane
ice dam membrane#English


fly-in

(roofing) A method of application for roll materials by which the dry sheet is set into the bitumen or adhesive applied to the roof surface.


digger

From Middle English dyggar, equivalent to dig + -er.
In the sense of "Australian soldier", attributed to the considerable time that soldiers spent digging trenches during World War I.

The cables are placed from 16 in. to 2 ft. down, and to save time and labour use was made of a mechanical digger lent by the Swedish State Railways.

1952 January, “Electrification Progress in Norway”, in Railway Magazine, page 55:

A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches.


breeze-block

From breeze (“residue from a furnace”) + block.

com

(UK) A lightweight building block made from cinders and concrete.


dump truck

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dump truck.wav

Specialised long-reach excavators with a clamshell grab then reach though the openings to lift the spoil to the surface, which is then deposited in articulated dump trucks (ADTs).

2023 March 8, Chris Howe, “Building the platform for Old Oak Common's platforms”, in RAIL, number 978, page 60:

A heavy truck, for carrying loose, bulk cargo, having a hinged bed that allows the contents to be unloaded onto the ground.

شَاحِنَة تَفْرِيغ

heavy truck for carrying loose, bulk cargo


crawler

From crawl (“to move slowly, by dragging the body along the ground”) + -er.

suf

A child who is able to creep using its hands and knees but is not able to walk.

A tractor crawler, a motorized vehicle that uses caterpillar tracks instead of wheels.

Crawler-based search engines have three major elements. The first is the spider, also called the crawler, which visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pages within the site.

2008, Alex Michael, Ben Salter, Marketing Through Search Optimization, Routledge, →ISBN, page xii:

These serve as an algorithmic way to judge the “mobileness” of a site, and similar algorithms are likely to be used by the search crawlers.

2011, James Pearce, Professional Mobile Web Development with WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal, page 466:

(Internet) A software bot that autonomously follows connected paths such as links between web pages.


crawler

From crawl (“to act in a servile manner”) + -er.
From the Australian convict period (1788–1850); a prisoner who was purposely and extensively abused by an overseer (also a convict) and thereby driven to escape but who, finding it impossible to survive in the Australian bush, surrenders to this overseer, who would then have his penal term reduced. The particular crawler was picked for his weak personality and might escape and return a number of times increasing his own penal term each time. According to James Tucker, some convict overseers had their sentences extensively reduced using this odious practice.

suffix

(Australia, obsolete) A person who is abused, physically or verbally, and returns to the abuser a supplicant.


carpenter's square

en-noun

carpenter's square (plural carpenter's squares)

A tool used to measure out right angles.


ledger

From Middle English liggere, ligger, leger (“large breviary; beam, plank; dweller, inhabitant”), from liggen, leggen, variants of līen (“to lie down; to bow, kneel, prostrate; to die; to be located (somewhere); to remain in place, stay”), from Old English liċġan (“to lie down; to be situated”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie down”). The word is cognate with Dutch legger (“daybook; layer”) (from leggen (“to lay”), liggen (“to lie down”)), and is related to English ledge, lie (“to be prostrate”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

refn

From the collection of the Museum der Alltagskultur (Museum of Everyday Culture) in Waldenbuch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

tilikirja

book or other scheme for keeping accounting records

[The dome was] turned upon a centre laid without any standard from below to support it. Every story of the scaffolding being circular, and the ends of the ledgers meeting as so many rings, and truly wrought, it supported itself; […]

1851, G[eorge] Drysdale Dempsey, “Section V. Timber, Woodwork, & Constructive Carpentry.”, in The Builder’s Guide: A Practical Manual for the Use of Builders, Clerks of Works, Professional Students, and Others, Engaged in Designing or Superintending the Construction of Buildings. […], London: Archley & Co., […], →OCLC, paragraph 80, page 111:

For more secure rooftop decks, a ledger (a joist mounted against the side of the house to support one side of a deck) is attached to the face of the house with perpendicular sleepers (wood planks laid horizontally at wide intervals) aligned with the roof rafters below.

2003, Julie Stillman, Jane Gitlin, “Decks”, in Deck & Patio Idea Book (Taunton Home), Stefanie Ramp edition, Newtown, Conn.: Taunton Press, →ISBN, page 32:

(construction) A board attached to a wall to provide support for attaching other structural elements (such as deck joists or roof rafters) to a building.

juoksu

construction: board attached to a wall to provide support


red brick university

en-noun

red brick university (plural red brick universities)

From the memoir Redbrick University by Edgar Allison Peers, whose titular university is based on the University of Liverpool. Liverpool, like most urban universities of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, extensively uses red clay bricks in its architecture.

It took a while before he told me his background: a happy childhood; two degrees—a bachelor's from a red brick university and an Oxbridge PhD; a relatively high-flying job in academia that he liked rather than loved.

2006 March 31, Adrian Turpin, “Not tonight darling, I'm online”, in Financial Times, retrieved 2006-03-31:

(British) Any traditional British university other than Oxford or Cambridge, especially one founded in the Victorian age in a large city.

Edgar Allison Peers
University of Liverpool
red brick university


loader

(computing) A program that prepares other programs for execution.

zavaděč

A tractor with a scoop, for example: front-end loader, front loader, endloader, payloader, bucket loader, wheel loader, etc.

Unique point-of-purchase materials and display loaders dramatically contribute to the display's attention-getting ability.

1990, Robert B. Konikow, Sales Promotion Design, page 197:

Marketers use dealer loaders to obtain new distributors and push larger quantities of goods.

1995, William M. Pride, O. C. Ferrell, Marketing: Concepts and Strategies, page 591:

Dealer (or buying) loaders are gifts offered to resellers for stocking products. Many companies specialize in providing premium and gift items, and publish catalogues from which you can select appropriate items.

2001, Stuart Clark Rogers, Marketing Strategies, Tactics, and Techniques, page 172:

(marketing) An incentive given to a dealer.


drywall

drywall (countable and uncountable, plural drywalls)

A stone wall constructed without mortar or cement.


joist

From Old French giste, feminine of gist, the past participle of gesir (“to lie down”).

[…] a Family was infected there, in so terrible a Manner that every one of the House died; the last Person lay dead on the Floor, and as it is supposed, had laid her self all along to die just before the Fire; the Fire, it seems had fallen from its Place, being of Wood, and had taken hold of the Boards and the Joists they lay on, and burnt as far as just to the Body, but had not taken hold of the dead Body […]

1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt et al., page 190:

There are generally forty-two teeth in all; in old whales, much worn down, but undecayed; nor filled after our artificial fashion. The jaw is afterwards sawn into slabs, and piled away like joists for building houses.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 74, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

A formidable wooden beam, resting on four pillars, which appeared to have bent under the weight of the decrepit house, had been encrusted with as many coats of different paint as there are of rouge on an old duchess’s cheek. In the middle of this broad and fantastically carved joist there was an old painting representing a cat playing rackets.

1895, Honoré de Balzac, translated by Clara Bell, At the Sign of the Cat and Racket, London: J.M. Dent, published 1842, page 17:

[…] even the carpenters who made her over for the service had not thought her worth the trouble, and had done their worst by her. The new partitions were hung to the joists by a few nails.

1923, Willa Cather, One of Ours, Book Four, Chapter 6:

Once the floor joists were in position, the framing of the next storey could continue, with a bressummer laid along their ends.

1986, R. J. Brown, Timber-Framed Buildings of England, London: R. Hale, →ISBN, page 63:

A piece of timber or steel laid horizontally, or nearly so, to which the planks of the floor, or the laths or furring strips of a ceiling, are nailed.


redbrick

red brick university
red brick university#English


four by two

She would sit here sometimes, perched on a bag of concrete looking at the big lumps of four by two and imagining what she might do with them if she had a chance.

1994, Peter Carey, Collected Stories, page 206:

He eyed Norman, who was lifting one end of a four-by-two and sighting down it, as his Bendigo uncle had taught him to sight new beams, seeking out the bow.

2009, Joy Dettman, Pearl in a Cage, page 110:

I found myself in overalls, work boots, gloves and protective glasses splitting planks of four-by-two and stacking them on pallets.[…]From rock star to Rajah of the Radio (Paul Keating′s line) to the ARIA Hall of Fame to being John Farnham′s manager for twenty-five years to a convicted criminal splitting four-by-twos.

2010, Glenn Wheatley, Glenn Wheatley: Facing the Music, page 109:

(Australia, UK, New Zealand) A length of sawn wood of cross section 4 inches by 2 inches, most often employed as structural framing lumber / timber.


stirrup

From Middle English stirop, stirope, from Old English stiġrāp (“stirrup”), a compound of stiġe ("ascent, descent, a going up or down"; related to stīġan (“to climb”)) and rāp (“rope”), equivalent to sty + rope.
Cognate with Dutch stegereep, stegelreep (“stirrup”), Old Saxon stigerēp (“stirrup”), Middle High German stereip, stegreif ("stirrup"; > German Stegreif (“improvisation”)), Icelandic stigreip (“stirrup”).

gloss

"ascent, descent, a going up or down"; related to <i class="Latn mention" lang="ang">stīġan</i> (“to climb”)

"stirrup"; > German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Stegreif</i> (“improvisation”)

(construction) A bent rebar wrapped around the main rebars to reinforce against shear stress.


daub

en-noun

daub (countable and uncountable, plural daubs)

From Middle English daub (noun), from Middle English dauben (“to plaster or whitewash; cover with clay; bespatter”, verb), from Old Northern French dauber (“to whitewash; plaster”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Latin dealbāre (“to whiten thoroughly”).

der

Excrement or clay used as a bonding material in construction.


pebble dash

en-noun

pebble dash (countable and uncountable, plural pebble dashes)


pebble dash

en-verb

pebble dash (third-person singular simple present pebble dashes, present participle pebble dashing, simple past and past participle pebble dashed)

pebble dashes (present singular third-person)
pebble dashing (participle present)
pebble dashed (participle past)
pebble dashed (past)

The roads were lined with cramped little semis and 1960s bungalows: Britain's cheapest houses, in their flimsy, pebble-dashed glory.

2012, Tim Moore, You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Around Unloved Britain, Vintage, →ISBN, page 150:


cherry picker

Earlier police used a cherry picker to clear protesters perched on a wooden structure built to block the road at Oxford Circus.

2019 October 18, “Extinction Rebellion: Central London targeted despite ban”, in BBC News:

A piece of equipment consisting of a large basket at the end of an extensible boom, often mounted on a truck body, and used by workers to reach inaccessible places such as power lines and tall trees.

A cantilevered tool for installing or removing a vehicle's engine block.

A person or group that picks the best for themselves; one who cherry-picks.

Two conclusions stand out: The Bible is a cherry-picker's paradise, and human beings cannot function without double standards.

2006, Manfred Weidhorn, An Anatomy of Skepticism, →ISBN, page 218:

A person or group that picks only evidence which supports an argument and ignores evidence which contradicts it; one who cherry-picks.


fallback

en-noun

fallback (countable and uncountable, plural fallbacks)

recourse. Hypernyms: see Thesaurus:option

(construction) A reduction in bitumen softening point, sometimes called refluxing or overheating, in a relatively closed container.


shipbuilding

(uncountable, nautical) The construction of ships.


nogging

nogging (countable and uncountable, plural noggings)

(carpentry) A horizontal beam used in the construction of a building, especially to strengthen upright posts.

(masonry) Rough brick masonry used to fill open spaces.


dwang

Borrowed from Dutch dwang, from Middle Dutch dwanc.

(carpentry, Scotland, New Zealand) A horizontal timber (or steel) section used in the construction of a building.


RSJ

rolled steel joist
rolled steel joist#English

(construction) Initialism of rolled steel joist.


wallboard

wallboard (countable and uncountable, plural wallboards)

Hooks come with screws for use in plaster or wood and toggles for use in wallboard. One hook should be sufficient to swag a lamp from a ceiling outlet.

1991, Kalton C. Lahue, Cheryl Smith, Interior Lighting, page 19:

A construction material of pre-made boards used for walls and ceilings, usually a gypsum core with a paper surface.

гипсокартон

a construction material of premade boards used for walls and ceilings


lime mortar

lime mortar (countable and uncountable, plural lime mortars)

A soft form of mortar made from sand and slaked lime, largely replaced by cement mortar in modern building methods.


stiffener

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-stiffener.wav

(construction) One of a series of angle bars, Z-bars, beams, rods, or other shapes, attached in order to provide them the necessary stiffness or rigidity.

tāhū

rod or bar or beam used to give structure the necessary stiffness or rigidity


like a cat on a hot tin roof

A simile developed from the behaviour of a cat observed on a hot tin roof.

(simile, colloquial, chiefly US) Jumpy, nervous.


topside

Future plans are for tripod designs in up to 90m of water, supporting lightweight topsides and braced mono towers for marginal field developments.

1997, P. J. Dowling, B. A. Burgan, “Steel structures in the new millennium”, in P. K. K. Lee, editor, Structures in the New Millennium, page 11:

(construction) The structure and assembly of modules above the jacket or gravity base sub structure.

(construction) The structure and assembly of modules on the deck of any floating installation.


strongback

(carpentry) A load-bearing post with a T-shaped cross-section, where the short T-tail prevents bowing of the long post.


rehabilitate

en-verb

rehabilitate (third-person singular simple present rehabilitates, present participle rehabilitating, simple past and past participle rehabilitated)

rehabilitates (present singular third-person)
rehabilitating (participle present)
rehabilitated (participle past)
rehabilitated (past)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin rehabilitātus, perfect passive participle of Latin rehabilitō.

lbor

Cumaratunga was so furious that he intensified his campaign for revitalizing the traditional practices of asweddumization, so that neglected arable land could be rehabilitated, and a degenerating economy restructured and rejuvenated.

1992, Alavattāgoḍa Pēmadāsa, Cumaratunga, the Unknown: Hidden Facets of His Scientific Profile, page 115:

Engineers are considering using the blowable insulation to rehabilitate residential buildings in Chicago under an Argonne partnership with Bethel New Life, a Chicago community economic initiative.

1996 November, “Doggone it, it's a new ceramic binder”, in DOE this Month, page 14:

(transitive, Canada, US, construction) To restore or repair (a vehicle, building); to make habitable or usable again.


sealant

en-noun

sealant (countable and uncountable, plural sealants)

(construction) A mixture of polymers, fillers, and pigments used to fill and seal joints where moderate movement is expected.


saltbox

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-saltbox.wav

“I think I'd rather languish in the Salt Box at Newgate Prison wearing the Devil's Claws than to be married to that tree,” Kierney said.

Heather Herrman, The Corpse Queen, in 2017, Dark Screams (volume 6)

As expected, Peg was indeed cast for death and was moved to the 'salt box' (the condemned cell) in the Press-yard to be near the New Drop.

2018, Charles Palliser, The Quincunx: The Clothiers:

(UK, slang, historical) The cell in Newgate prison for a prisoner condemned to death.


batten

The noun is from Middle English bataunt, batent (“finished bar or board (as for panelling)”), from Old French batent (“a beating”), a noun use of the present participle form of batre (“to beat, hit, strike”), from Late Latin battere, the present active infinitive of battō (“to beat”), from Latin battuō (“(very rare) to beat, hit, strike”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ-, *bʰedʰh₂- (“to pierce; to stab”) or *bʰat- (“to hit”), ultimately onomatopoeic.
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(carpentry, construction) A plank or strip of wood, or several of such strips arranged side by side, used in construction to hold members of a structure together, to provide a fixing point, to strengthen, or to prevent warping.

فَسْقِيَّة

plank or strip of wood, or several of such strips arranged side by side, used in construction to hold members of a structure together, etc.


montant

From Middle English mountant, from Old French montant.

(carpentry) An upright piece in any framework, such as a muntin or stile


wythe

Uncertain.
* Perhaps an alteration of width.
* Perhaps related to withe (“flexible twig; band of twigs”), from Old English wiþþe (“tie, band”).
The chimney-partition sense may derive from the fact that a single wythe or thickness of brick has often been used for such partitions.

That wall has to be at least three wythes of brick to support your load.

(masonry) A continuous vertical section of masonry, one unit in thickness.


self-build

(construction, of a house) Supplied in kit form, for construction by the owner.


self-build

(construction) A house built by the owner, or according to the owner's instructions.


tabling

(carpentry) The letting of one timber into another by alternate scores or projections, as in shipbuilding; a crude form of dovetailing.


piling

[ˈpʰaɪ̯ɫlɪŋ]

A structural support comprising a length of wood, steel, or other construction material.

(ironworking) The process of building up, heating, and working fagots or piles to form bars, etc.


eavestrough

en-noun

eavestrough (countable and uncountable, plural eavestroughs)

1813 eaves-trough, 1817 eave trough, 1870 eavestrough, from eaves + trough.

Another contrivance worth mentioning, is, the manner of conducting the water down from an Eaves-trough or Lander, which is very common about Mansfield, on the edge of Nottinghamshire; it consists, in suspending a slight wooden rod from the end of the Lander, hanging down into the Water-Butt or Cistern, down which the water runs, without being scattered by the wind, or blown against the wall, as too constantly happens, unless expensive upright spouts or trunks are used, to convey the water down, and which are very subject to decay.

1813, John Farey, chapter 3, in General View of the Agriculture of Derbyshire, volume 2, London: Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, page 15:

At 1 P. M. going into a back room I noticed that the water was falling from the eave trough of a kitchen, in which there had been no fire for some days.

1817 March 15, Horatio Gates Spafford, “Record of Cold”, in Niles’ Weekly Register, volume 12, number 3, page 35:

e, the eave-trough, hollowed, as usual, out of solid timber, and having the outer edge an inch lower than the inner.

1836, John Henry Hopkins, Essay on Gothic Architecture, with Various Plans and Drawings for Churches, Burlington: Smith & Harrington, page 42:

They laugh at long-togs so, Flask; but seems to me, a Long tailed coat ought always to be worn in all storms afloat. The tails tapering down that way, serve to carry off the water, d'ye see. Same with cocked hats; the cocks form gable-end eave-troughs, Flask.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, or the Whale, volume 3, page 211:

Where in an action for a nuisance, in allowing the water from the defendant's roof to be shed on the plaintiff's land, there was evidence to show that the water did not run upon the plaintiff's premises until after a new eavestrough was constructed and put up, and that since that time it did run over and upon the plaintiff's premises, and injured his land; it was held, that the judge on the tiral erred in nonsuiting the plaintiff.

1870, William Wait, A Digest of New York Reports, volume 2, Albany: William Gould & Son, page 1407:

Maxx managed to grab sufficient hold of the eavestrough before plummeting to the ground. He hung suspended from the roof's edge ...

2009, Eugene Kachmarsky, Let Slip the Dogs of Love, →ISBN, page 59:

(Canada, Upper Midwestern US, Western US) A trough under the eaves of a building for draining water from the roof; gutter.


dead-air space

(construction) A sealed airspace in a cavity wall.


crawl space

When he couldn’t take another step he hid under a lonesome gray house and squatted in the fetid water of the crawl space.

2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 147:

(construction) A narrow opening underneath the bottom of a building or storey used to give access to pipes, cables and other utilities.


load bearing

1906: American Railway Development Association, Proceedings of Meeting, American Railway Industrial Association, Railway Industrial Association
Too many otherwise suitable sites may be found to have sink holes, cavities, or poor load bearing qualities.

1953 O. T. (Oswald Theodore) Zimmerman, Irvin Lavine, Industrial Research Service's Handbook of Material Trade Names
It […] is characterised by […] excellent load bearing characteristics at elevated temperatures.

They are also one-hour fire rated on load bearing interior and exterior walls.

2006, Blaine Erickson Brownell, Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment:

(construction, civil engineering) Able to support a load.


fire door

There are 10,000 fire doors on the Elizabeth Line, including these two at Liverpool Street that have been tested to tolerate a two-hour blaze at temperatures as high as 3,000°C.

2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “We're counting down the days”, in RAIL, number 953, page 39, photo caption:

A fireproof door designed to stop fires spreading through buildings.

porta tallafoc

a fireproof door designed to stop fires spreading through buildings


carving knife

(carpentry) A knife used to pare, cut, and smooth wood.

coltello da intaglio

a knife used to pare, cut and smooth wood


two-by-four

(construction) A length of lumber having a cross section of two inches by four inches, or in the case of dimensional lumber three and a half inches by one and a half inches.


steam shovel

(historical) An excavating machine designed to effect a shovelling action through steam power.

蒸汽挖掘機 /蒸汽挖掘机

(by extension) Any excavating machine of similar design, no matter how powered.


steam shovel

en-verb

steam shovel (third-person singular simple present steam shovels, present participle steam shovelling or (US) steam shoveling, simple past and past participle steam shovelled or (US) steam shoveled)

steam shovels (present singular third-person)
steam shovelling (participle present)
steam shoveling (US participle present)
steam shovelled (participle past)
steam shovelled (past)
steam shoveled (US participle past)
steam shoveled (US past)

At Lahontan the teams were engaged on the earthwork of the dike with the adjoining Lahontan Beach canal south of the dam. Paving of the up-stream slope of the dam was carried out by night shift in steam shoveling rock at the quarry and delivering by cars and cableway to the dam, where paving was placed by day shift and nearly completed to the present top of the dam at the end of the month.

1914 February, “Construction Work, January”, in Reclamation Record, volume 5, number 2, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Reclamation Service, →OCLC, page 66, column 2:

[H]ere in America there are mountains of oil rock which can be blasted and steam-shoveled and transported by gravity to great retorts which will turn out oil and fertilizer in limitless quantities.

1918 February, Guy Elliott Mitchell, “Billions of Barrels of Oil Locked up in Rocks”, in Gilbert H[ovey] Grosvenor, editor, National Geographic, volume XXXIII, number 2, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 205, column 2:

Considerable copper ore, steam-shoveled from Sacramento Hill and piled at Bisbee, was of smelting and milling grade, and some of it was put on the dump for heap leaching.

1922 November 28, V. C. Heikes, “Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, and Zinc in Arizona”, in Mineral Resources of the United States 1921, part I (Metals), Washington, D.C.: [United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior]; Government Printing Office, published 1924, →OCLC, page 321:

I do know that some of the most influential people in the oil-mining industry have made some investigations with a view of steam shoveling certain areas, and that they found conditions were such, with the beds of barren material lying between the high-grade product, that they could not steam shovel it, […]

1931 February 17, Mark L. Requa, quotee, “Statement of Harold Walker, Representing the Pan American Petrolum & Transport Co., New York City”, in Regulating Importation of Petroleum and Related Products: Hearings before the Committee of Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Seventy-first Congress, Third Session on H.R. 16585: A Bill to Regulate Commerce between the United States and Foreign Countries in Crude Petroleum and All Products of Petroleum, including Fuel Oil, and to Limit the Importation thereof, and for Other Purposes […], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 297:

Approximately eighty-five percent of the iron mined in the United States in recent decades has come from the ore ranges adjoining the upper Lakes, and most of all from the fabulous Mesabi Range, some fifty miles northwest of Duluth, now steam-shovelled deep in what was recently a frontier wilderness of snow, lakes and northern forests, […]

1943 March 19, “Appendix DD: The War Shipping Panel [Opinion on Union Maintenance]”, in The Termination Report of the National War Labor Board: Industrial Disputes and Wage Stabilization in Wartime: January 12, 1942 – December 31, 1945, volume III (Appendixes to Volume I, Part II), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1947, →OCLC, page 234:

At first I was acutely aware of how close we were, but then—when Dan started steam-shoveling food into his mouth—I laughted and relaxed into the moment.

2008, Terri Clark, chapter 7, in Sleepless, New York, N.Y.: HarperTeen, HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, page 95:

I'm steam-shoveling scrambled eggs and pancakes with syrup into my mouth next morning when Dad sits down with the newspaper.

2008, Coleen Murtagh Paratore, “Tucker, Jupey, and Stew”, in The Funeral Director’s Son, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 40:

Jesse imagined a group of Children back there steam shoveling the mashed corpses out of the way, an assembly line of the beasts passing the deat and wounded back toward the arena.

2019, Jonathan Janz, chapter 3, in Savage Species, London: Flame Tree Publishing, →ISBN, part 1 (Night Terrors):

(transitive) To excavate (a place, or something from a place) using a steam shovel.

kaivaa höyrykaivurilla

to excavate (a place, or something from a place) using a steam shovel

I have never had any experience with steam shoveling.

[1876 September 28, C. C. Martin (witness), “[Proceedings before the City Court of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York]”, in N.Y. Court of Appeals: William C. Kingsley & Abner C. Keeney, Appellants, against the City of Brooklyn, Respondent: Appeal Book, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Eagle Print, […], published 1879, page 883:

[I]n the tumultuous rootings of a potato field, in which hogs had long foraged and steam-shoveled, there were woodcock, squatting sedately and boring assiduously in the soft brown loam.

1920 June, Archibald Rutledge, “Twenty Feet at Rimini”, in Reginald T. Townsend, editor, Country Life, volume XXXVIII, number 2, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 92, column 3:

They're steam shoveling there with this great ugly nose plowing out a hole and throwing the dirt up on the bank or in trucks to haul away.

a. 1964 (date written), A[iden] W[ilson] Tozer, Worship: The Reason We Were Created—Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer, Chicago, Ill.: Moody Publishers, published 2017, →ISBN:

(intransitive) To operate a steam shovel.


joisting

en-noun

joisting (countable and uncountable, plural joistings)

(construction) An arrangement of joists; joistwork.


battening

(construction) Synonym of batten (“strip of wood used to hold things together or provide a fixing point”)


brickwork

The two lower rows of tubes at each end pier were then drilled through to the extrados of the brickwork to act as weep holes and assist in the drainage from the backs of the arches.

1954 January 24, “Strengthening of Coquet Viaduct”, in Railway Magazine, page 19:

A structure, or portion of a structure, that is made out of bricks.

The quality of the construction of a brick structure.


excavator

A vehicle, often on tracks, used to dig ditches etc.


Dutch corner

(masonry) Laying bricks with a three-quarter brick closure at the corner.


brickfielder

From the location name Brickfield Hill, after the hill in Surry Hills (now in inner Sydney) from the direction of which a hot wind blew into Sydney in its early days. The term spread to Melbourne by circa 1850, and to central Australia by circa 1900, then to Western Australia.

Returning home, he discovers that the house is full of sand ; that the brickfielder has even insinuated itself between the leaves of his books ; that at dinner he will probably find that his favourite dish has been spoiled by the brickfielder.

1845, J. O. Balfour, A Sketch of New South Wales, page 5:

A southerly buster would blow — a Sydney brickfielder;[…].

1914, Henry Mills Alden, Thomas Bucklin Wells, Harper's Magazine, volume 129, page 508:

Then he had to concentrate his efforts on a smooth descent through the swirling gusts of the brickfielder.

1986, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 106, numbers 1-4, page 60:

Hot spells many days in duration, with temperatures daily exceeding 100°F. (38°C), often take place while the brickfielder blows.

2005, Ajay Kumar Ghosh, Dictionary of Geography, page 45:

(Australia) A hot, dry, dusty wind of southern or central Australia.


general contractor

general contractor (plural general contractors)

(construction, engineering) A contractor hired to manage a project and to hire subcontractors. (If a customer serves as their own general contractor then this means they undertake the management tasks and the hiring of subcontractors.)


shipyard

To my mind, it appears obvious in the context of total shipwork, the private shipyards are doing very well indeed. It is true that with the dwindling size of the Navy, there will be less repair work.

1974, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations, Department of Defense Appropriations for 1975: Hearings..., page 320:

On the Chickahominy, the Hazelwood brothers' fish house at Hicks Island and the Menzel brothers' fish house near the old shipyard thrived by serving local and distant markets. As late as 1977, a Publick Observer article boasted, "If you are served turtle soup in Atlanta or catfish in Ft. Wayne, Ind., chances are good that the main ingredients came from the waters of the James or the Chickahominy."

2009, Sara E. Lewis, James City County, page 77:

A place where ships are built and repaired.


slicker

From slick (“to smooth or make slick”) + -er.

A person who is perceived as clever, urbane and possibly disreputable. (abbreviation of city slicker.)

(metalworking) A curved tool for smoothing the surfaces of a mould after the withdrawal of the pattern.

A two-handled tool for finishing concrete or mortar; a darby.


sleeved

From Middle English *sleved, *isleved, from Old English ġeslīefed (“sleeved”), equivalent to sleeve + -ed.

(manufacturing, construction) Made with or having sleeves.


pan

→? Irish: panna

→ Japanese: パン

From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ, from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek.
Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.

pan

flat vessel used for cooking — see also frying pan

(roofing) The bottom flat part of a roofing panel that is between the ribs of the panel.

(carpentry) A recess, or bed, for the leaf of a hinge.


sidewalk superintendent

en-noun

sidewalk superintendent (plural sidewalk superintendents)

Even the most occasional sidewalk superintendent knows that in the construction of a tall building the first floor is put in before the second, the second before the third, and so on.

1962 January 14, “Builder to Start on the Top Floor”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(construction) A passer-by or other person who watches and possibly advises work at a construction project from a sidewalk or other vantage point.