tenon

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a projection at the end of a piece of wood that is shaped to fit into a mortise and form a mortise joint

From Middle English tenoun, tenown, tenon, from Anglo-Norman tenoun, from Old French tenon.

Dans ce bordel où tenons nostre état. — Ulysses, James Joyce
This wonderful temple is built of lava blocks without lime or mortar, the huge stones being jointed most accurately by tenons, mortises, and dovetails which bind them solidly together. — Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania, Jewett C. (Jewett Castello) Gilson
Continue, Olivier.” The person whom he designated by this name, took the papers into his hands again, and began to read aloud,— “To Adam Tenon, clerk of the warden of the seals of the provostship of Paris; for the silver, making, and engraving of said seals, which have been made new because the others preceding, by reason of their antiquity and their worn condition, could no longer be successfully used, twelve livres parisis. — Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo

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