lintel
2
7.5
- noun
- /ˈlɪn.təl/
- Specialized
:
lintel
- During the renovation, they replaced the cracked lintel with a stronger, more durable beam.
- door lintel
- lintel above the entrance
- lintels of doorways
Examples
-
A door was supposed to have a transom, a lintel, a keyhole, stiles, and a handle.
Fiction book (2001) -
Sioned paused at the lintel, blinking at a quiet unnaturalness in a kitchen full of children.
Fiction book (1992) -
I spread some mud on the lintel, then placed the stone.
Fiction book (1993) -
Using a key she took down from the lintel, she unlocked it and entered the room.
Fiction book (1998) -
From some distance, you saw the steel lintel of Europe's doorway standing open.
Academic text (2012) -
Stooping under a low stone lintel, he entered a chamber hewn from naked rock.
Fiction book (1990) -
The hieroglyphic text serves as the building's lintels, spanning the three wide entrances.
Academic text (2003) -
Elaborately carved golden flowers bloom up and down the jambs; the lintel is decorated with gargoyled lion heads.
Academic text (2007) -
Now he bursts in, forgetting to duck, striking his head on the lopsided lintel, a low, splintery, nail-studded beam.
Fiction book (2001) -
The architect designed a beautiful lintel to support the door frame of the old house.
Synonyms
2
6.8
A beam at the top of an opening that supports weight
Compounds
How Strong
- Specialized
5
3.7
- Specialized
2
7.5
Surface Forms
Etymology
Lintel comes from the old French linteau and the Latin linteum, which mean 'linen cloth'. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a flat strip of cloth laid across the top of a doorway. Like the English word linen, this root suggests a flat band, so a lintel is the flat beam above a door or window.