corbel
/ˈkɔːb(ə)l
/noun
A projection jutting out from a wall to support a structure above it.Bradford planning authority could legitimately have insisted that for part of such a high-profile city centre development the walls should be natural stone, with natural stone corbels supporting the guttering....
- Then we added cornices, corbels, ceiling roses and two custom built crystal chandeliers.
- There is more carving on the wall panels, pews and pulpit, the ceiling has fine reliefs, and the corbels supporting the beams have curious carvings, including angels with musical instruments.
verb (corbels, corbelling, corbelled; US corbels, corbeling, corbeled) [with object]
Support (a structure) on corbels: (as adjective corbelled) a very high corbelled vault...
- This almost rusticated or corbelled brickwork technique, together with the raked horizontal joints, imbues the hearth with an earth-pressing monumentality, not unlike that of the Griffins architecture.
- Amateurs can easily fill the tubes using simple agricultural tools, after which bags are arranged in a spiral that is gradually corbelled inwards as it ascends to form a dome.
- The basic construction technique involves filling sandbags with earth and laying them in circular courses that are corbelled near the top to form a dome.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, diminutive of corp 'crow', from Latin corvus 'raven' (perhaps because of the shape of a corbel, resembling a crow's beak).