to mortise
1
9.2
- verb
- /ˈmɔːrtɪs/
- Specialized
:
mortajar
- He could peg and pin, dovetail and mortise, and when he used nails at all—brads really—they were so fine that nobody could imagine how he could feel them in his huge hands.
Examples
-
They packed their mouths full of twenties; they folded rigor-mortised hands around hundreds.
Academic text (2007) -
When the table was set down before her, the brighter light from the window drew her attention to the surface, where two pale pieces shaped like sharp hourglasses had been mortised across a crack to keep the wood from splitting.
Fiction book (1994) -
Hubba-hubba, I could probably still have some fun with this one before she gets all rigor-mortised on my ass...
Fiction book (1999) -
It is an embodied knowing, mortised and tenoned into experience.
Academic text (1991) -
I have referred to this as anastomosis since the Greek morpheme for mouth corresponds visually and conceptually to mortise, although the terms anastomosis and mortise are etymologically different.
Academic text (1991) -
Carpenters often mortise wood to create strong joints that hold furniture together.
-
He learned how to mortise the wood pieces accurately, ensuring they fit snugly into the frame.
-
To build the table, you need to mortise the legs into the tabletop for added stability.
Synonyms
1
5.3
To fasten two parts together so they form one piece
Compounds
- Specialized
A strong wood connection where a peg on one piece fits into a hole in another piece
- Specialized
A strong wooden joint where a peg from one piece fits into a hole in another
- Specialized
The joint between the lower leg bones and the top bone of the foot that forms the ankle
How Deep
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word mortise comes from an old French word mortaise that meant a 'plug' or 'small hole'. So to mortise something is to cut that hole so another piece can fit into it.