To Chamfer

To bevel the corner of a square-edged piece of wood.

Clamp

A tool having a screw, used to force and hold work together.

Crown-post

The middle post of a trussed roof; also called the King-post.

Cavetto

A hollow moulding, whose profile is the quarter of a circle; used chiefly in cornices.

Chancel

That part of a church between the altar and the rail that encloses it.

Chaptrel

The capital of a pier or pilaster which receives an arch; also called an Impost.

Ceiling

The upper interior surface opposite the floor.

Choir

That part of a church appropriated to the use of the officiating clergyman; the chancel.

Chord of an arch; the span.

Column

A cylindrical support for roofs, ceilings, etc., composed of base, shaft, and capital; a pillar.

Cyma

A moulding of a cornice which is composed of two members, - a hollow and a round; an ogee moulding. It is called Cyma Recta when the upper member is hollow and the lower member is round. It is called Cyma Reversa when the upper member is round and the lower member is hollow.

Cinque-foil

An ornamental foliation, having five points or cusps, used in windows, panels, etc.

Clustered Column

A column which is composed, or appears to be composed, of several columns collected together.

Composite Order

An order of architecture made up of the Ionic order grafted on the Corinthian; also called the Roman or Italic order.

Console

A bracket or shoulder-piece, or a projecting ornament on the keystone of an arch, and often used to support little cornices, busts, and vases.

Coping

The highest or covering course of masonry in a wall, sometimes bevelled on the top to carry off the water; also called Capping.

Concrete

A mass of stone chippings, pebbles, etc., cemented by mortar, and used for foundations where the soil is light or wet; also used to lay cellar-bottoms. In concrete sidewalks the pebbles are generally cemented by gas-tar instead of mortar or cement.

Cornice

Any moulded projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed, as the cornice of an order, of a pediment, of a door, window, or house.

Corinthian Order

The third order of architecture, characterized by a profusion of ornamentation.

Corbel

A bracket used to support arches, statuary, etc.

Cove

An arch overhead where ceilings connect with the walls.

Crocket

An ornament formed in imitation of curved and bent foliage, and placed upon the angles of spires, canopies, etc.

Curb-roof

a roof having a double slope; a gambrel roof.

Cupola

A dome-like vault on the top of an edifice, usually on a tower or steeple, as of a public building. The word as commonly used means a small tower or turret built on the top of a building.

Curb-plate

The plate in a curb-roof that receives the feet of the upper rafters.

Dado

The die or square part in the middle of the pedestal of a column, between the base and the cornice; also that part of an apartment between the plinth and the impost moulding-.

Dentil

An ornamental square block or projection in cornices, bearing some resemblance to teeth, used particularly in the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders.

Doric Order

Belonging to the second order of columns, between the Tuscan and Ionic. The Doric order is distinguished for strength and simplicity.

Dormer Window

A window placed on the inclined plane of the roof of a house, the frame being placed vertically on the rafters.

Echinus

A moulding of the same form as the ovolo or quarter-round, but properly so called only when ornamented or carved with eggs and anchors.

Engaged Columns

Columns sunk partly into the wall to which they are attached, and standing out at least one-half of their thickness.

Entablature

That part of an order which is over the columns, including the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

Facade

A front view or elevation of an edifice.

Fascia

A flat member of an order or building, like a flat band or broad fillet.

Festoon

An ornament of carved work in the form of a wreath of flowers, fruits, and leaves, represented as depending or hanging in an arch.

Fillet

A little square member or ornament used in various places, but generally as a corona over a greater moulding, some times as a small square under other mouldings; also the square part of the cyma recta and ogee mouldings.

Finials

A knot or bunch of foliage that forms the upper extremities of pinnacles in Gothic architecture.

Flute

A channel in a column or pilaster.

Foil

A rounded or leaf-like ornament in windows, niches, etc., called trefoil, quatre-foil, quinque-foil, or cinque-foil, etc., according to the number of arcs of which it is composed.

Foliation

The act of enriching with feather ornaments resembling leaves, or the ornaments themselves.

Frieze

That part of the entablature of a column which is between the architrave and cornice. It is a flat member or face, often enriched with figures of animals or other ornaments of sculpture, whence its name.

Fresco

A method of painting on plastered walls and ceilings.

Fret

An ornament consisting of small fillets intersecting each other at right angles.

Furrinys

Strips of board, 1 by 3 inches, which are nailed on the under side of floor-timbers, to form a level surface for laths, - strapping. The term furring is sometimes applied to studding.

Gable

The vertical triangular end of a house or other building, from the eaves to the top.

Gable-roof

The sloping roof which forms a gable.

Gable-window