Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The liturgical headdress and part of the insignia of a Christian bishop. In the Western church it is a tall pointed hat with peaks in front and back, worn at all solemn functions.
  • noun A thong for binding the hair, worn by women in ancient Greece.
  • noun The ceremonial headdress worn by ancient Jewish high priests.
  • noun A miter joint.
  • noun The edge of a piece of material that has been beveled preparatory to making a miter joint.
  • noun A miter square.
  • intransitive verb To bestow a miter upon.
  • intransitive verb To make (two pieces or surfaces) join with a miter joint.
  • intransitive verb To bevel the edges of for joining with a miter joint.
  • intransitive verb To meet in a miter joint.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In organ-building, to introduce one or more miter-joints into (a pipe), so as to adapt it to a contracted space: such a pipe is said to be mitered or mitered over.
  • To bestow a miter upon; raise to a rank to which the dignity of wearing a miter belongs, especially to episcopal rank.
  • To ornament with a miter.
  • In carpentry, to join with a miter-joint; make a miter-joint in. See miter-joint.
  • In needlework, to change the direction of, as a straight band, border, or the like, by cutting it at an abrupt angle, sacrificing a three-cornered piece, and bringing the cut edges together: a term derived from carpenter-work.
  • In bookbinding, to join perfectly, as lines intended to meet at right angles
  • In architecture, to meet in a miter-joint.
  • noun A form of head-dress anciently worn by the inhabitants of Lydia, Phrygia, and other parts of Asia Minor.
  • noun A sacerdotal head-dress, as that worn by the ancient Jewish high priest, or that worn by a bishop.
  • noun A chimney-cap or -pot of terra-cotta, brick, stone, or metal, designed to exclude rain and wind from the flue, while allowing the smoke, etc., to escape; a cowl; hence, anything having a similar use.
  • noun In conchology, a miter-shell.
  • noun In carp.: A scribe or guide for making saw-cuts to form miter-joints.
  • noun A combined square and miter-edge or pattern.
  • noun Same as miter-joint.
  • noun A gusset in seamstresses' work, knitting, and the like.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To place a miter upon; to adorn with a miter.
  • transitive verb To match together, as two pieces of molding or brass rule on a line bisecting the angle of junction; to fit together in a miter joint.
  • transitive verb To bevel the ends or edges of, for the purpose of matching together at an angle.
  • noun A covering for the head, worn on solemn occasions by bishops and other church dignitaries. It has been made in many forms, the present form being a lofty cap with two points or peaks.
  • noun The surface forming the beveled end or edge of a piece where a miter joint is made; also, a joint formed or a junction effected by two beveled ends or edges; a miter joint.
  • noun (Numis.) A sort of base money or coin.
  • noun (Carp. & Print.) an apparatus for guiding a handsaw at the proper angle in making a miter joint; esp., a wooden or metal trough with vertical kerfs in its upright sides, for guides.
  • noun (Carp.) a kind of dovetail for a miter joint in which there is only one joint line visible, and that at the angle.
  • noun (Carp.) a gauge for determining the angle of a miter.
  • noun a joint formed by pieces matched and united upon a line bisecting the angle of junction, as by the beveled ends of two pieces of molding or brass rule, etc. The term is used especially when the pieces form a right angle, such as the edges of a window frame, and the edge of each piece at the point of junction is cut at a 45° angle to its long direction. See Miter, 2.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any one of numerous species of marine univalve shells of the genus Mitra.
  • noun (Carp.) a bevel with an immovable arm at an angle of 45°, for striking lines on stuff to be mitered; also, a square with an arm adjustable to any angle.
  • noun a pair of bevel gears, of equal diameter, adapted for working together, usually with their axes at right angles.
  • intransitive verb To meet and match together, as two pieces of molding, on a line bisecting the angle of junction.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To finish a material at an angle, frequently 45 degrees, or sometimes with some specific shape, so that it will fit up tightly against another piece of material, as with a picture frame.
  • noun Alternative form of miter joint.
  • noun Alternative spelling of mitre.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb fit together in a miter joint
  • noun joint that forms a corner; usually both sides are bevelled at a 45-degree angle to form a 90-degree corner
  • verb confer a miter on (a bishop)
  • verb bevel the edges of, to make a miter joint
  • noun the surface of a beveled end of a piece where a miter joint is made

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English mitre, from Old French, from Medieval Latin, from Latin mitra, headdress of the Jewish high priest, from Greek.]

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Examples

  • I don't know what an auxiliary bishop is, but his miter is a might smaller than a real bishop's.

    Getting Giglio With It Brooks of Sheffield 2007

  • I don't know what an auxiliary bishop is, but his miter is a might smaller than a real bishop's.

    Archive 2007-07-01 Brooks of Sheffield 2007

  • By the way, if you like that hat which is called a miter or mitre, in Britain, I commend to you this photoessay.

    Clergytastical - Danya Ruttenberg 2006

  • This is called the "miter" and may be 45 degrees or any other angle.

    Handwork in Wood William Noyes

  • With a long white beard and wearing his episcopal miter he rides his gray horse over the rooftops.

    Santa Claus's Dutch Uncle Leon de Winter 2011

  • He gets a saw and his miter box and cuts two chunks of wood from a redwood two by four.

    The Heron Jack Swenson 2011

  • It always amazes me how densely populated these lefebvreites are with people who don the pope's miter as if it were their natural right ...

    A little snag with the SSPX reunion 2009

  • Thus his tables rarely show cracks and loosened miter joints resulting from wood shrinkage over time.

    Furniture for a Young Nation Barrymore Laurence Scherer 2012

  • The sharp buzz of the miter saw filled the backyard soon after, its noise gearing up to a tearing crescendo before tapering off to a low whine and then starting up again.

    O' Bending Light Meredith Greene 2011

  • She dragged out her husband's old miter saw and two paint flecked saw-horses.

    O' Bending Light Meredith Greene 2011

Comments

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  • Does it become a mitre when it's on a bishop's head?

    April 17, 2008

  • Also see mitre, as well as frindley's research at Hats Off!.

    April 17, 2008

  • A person who breeds mites for fun and/or profit.

    April 17, 2008