Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A usually rectangular cavity in a piece of wood, stone, or other material, prepared to receive a tenon and thus form a joint.
- n. Printing A hole cut in a plate for insertion of type.
- v. To join or fasten securely, as with a mortise and tenon.
- v. To make a mortise in.
- v. Printing To cut a hole in (a plate) for the insertion of type.
- v. Printing To cut such a hole and insert (type).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A hollow cut in a piece of wood or other material to receive a corresponding projection, called a tenon, formed on another piece in order to fix the two together. The junction of two pieces in this manner is called a mortise-joint.
- n. Figuratively, stability; power of adhesion.
- To join by a tenon and mortise; fix in or as in a mortise.
- To cut or make a mortise in.
Wiktionary
- n. woodworking A hole that is made to receive a tenon so as to form a joint
- v. woodworking To make a mortise.
- v. typography To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters; to kern.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A cavity cut into a piece of timber, or other material, to receive something (as the end of another piece) made to fit it, and called a tenon.
- v. To cut or make a mortise in.
- v. To join or fasten by a tenon and mortise.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cut a hole for a tenon in
- n. a square hole made to receive a tenon and so to form a joint
- v. join by a tenon and mortise
Etymologies
- First attested circa fourteenth century, from Old French mortaise, of uncertain origin. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English mortaise, from Old French, perhaps from Arabic murtazz, fastened, from irtazza, to be fixed (in place), derived stem of razza, to fix, insert; see rzz in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The mortise is the rectangular hole cut to receive the tenon and is made slightly deeper than the tenon is long.”
“The tenon here is narrow and engages the mortise, which is situated in the compressional fibres immediately adjoining the neutral layer.”
Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used.
“In the construction of mission furniture where mortise joints are mostly used, those who cannot have access to a mortising machine will find the following method of great assistance in obtaining a true mortise, which is necessary in work of this kind.”
“The mortise is the cavity hollowed to fit the tenon, which is the end of the interlocking beam, shaped to fit smoothly into the mortise.”
“He never got calls during dinner from frazzled friends having trouble with mortise and tenon joinery, plus David seemed like a nice enough guy.”
“I can cut it to rough shape with a steel blade, form it with a router, chop a mortise or cleave a tenon.”
“When men lose this capacity to mortise and tenon with wood, we're kind of left with nothing to do, like those big drone bees that get kicked out of the hive.”
“At the edge of one stack of timber is a squared piece of wood with a hand-cut mortise and tenon, the traditional joint used in many Japanese buildings.”
USA Today: Hope in Japan mixes with fear as reality rolls in
“With their unique design this sleek chair is available in a variety of domestic and exotic hardwoods, and features double tapered laminations, and mortise and tenon joinery.”
“The orbital movements jerked through its length, as if to remind me that it was still alive past rigor mortise, vicariously through his fellow squirrels.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mortise’.
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phrontistery - m
from phrontistery.info
multiloculate, multilocation, multiflorous, multifid, multifarious, multicipital, multeity, multarticulate, multanimous, mulse, mullock, mullion and 898 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, M
metamerism, malady, margin, marauder, maverick, mercury, mirth, mandible, macerate, meteor, manumission, mica and 292 more...
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Word Gems
foist, coercion, abecedism, abiectic, abigeus, abiogenesis, ablaut, thunderstruck, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, filagree, blotto and 196 more...
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Holes
judas, judas-hole, hole, creephole, pinhole, spy-eye, blowhole, breathing-hole, spiracle, touchhole, mouth, cakehole and 166 more...
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fitting words
a list of words from the indo european root ar- and variations : to fit together
ambry, rede, coarctate, anarthrous, artiodactyl, exordium, harmony, army, armoire, arm, armada, armadillo and 349 more...
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Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
By David Foster Wallace
emeritus, apian, fenestration, prophylax, pelisse, niggardly, lallating, pica, simulacrum, floridly, acquiesced, truculent and 114 more...
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Woodworking tools
Woodworking glossary (Part 1) - Machines, components and tools used in woodworking, carpentry and in furniture workshops.
dovetail, veneer, stock, jointer, planer, clamp, sander, jig, template, router, lathe, carbide and 35 more...
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noggie42's Words
kleptocracy, zeugma, shilly-shally, hierophant, maunder, periwinkle, verisimilitude, diphthong, flippant, ludicrous, kreplach, gullet and 69 more...
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Cavity or Hollow
Words related to cavity or hollow.
sinus, lacuna, fossa, cavum, crater, vacuity, void, caries, bursa, alveolus, fossula, fossule and 6 more...
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Groove or Furrow
Words meaning groove or furrow.
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