corbie-step

9.9

A stepped top on the end wall of a roof that looks like stone stairs

noun

: escalón de corbie

Restorers carefully repaired each corbie-step to preserve the building's historic appearance.

Examples

Many traditional Scottish buildings feature corbie-step gables as a characteristic architectural detail.
The old castle was famous for its distinctive corbie-steps along the roofline.
The old castle featured a beautiful corbie-step design.
Many historic buildings in Scotland have corbie-steps on their gables.
Many traditional Scottish buildings feature corbie-step gables as a characteristic architectural detail.
The old castle was famous for its distinctive corbie-steps along the roofline.
Many historic buildings in Scotland have corbie-steps on their gables.

Synonyms

corbiestep

vscorbie-step

9.9

A stepped top at the end wall of a house below the roof

has identical meaning but is an alternative written form

crow step

vscorbie-step

9.9

A stepped edge at the top of a wall under a sloping roof

is more specific to Scottish and northern traditional architecture

corbel step

vscorbie-step

Specialized

9.9

A stone or brick step that sticks out along the sloping edge of a gable wall

focuses on the same shape without specifying material or projection method

Surface Forms

corbie-step singular

corbie-steps plural

Morphology

corbie-step = corbie + step (opaque) = corbie + step

Although built from 'corbie' (Scots 'crow') + 'step', the term is a dialectal architectural compound whose specialized sense ('stepped gable') is not derivable by an average B1 learner from the components.

Etymology

Corbie-step comes from Scots corbie meaning 'crow' and the English word step. People named the stepped shape of a gable a corbie-step because the little stone steps look like places a crow could land, so a corbie-step is the step-like top of a gable wall.