fish joint
- noun
- Specialized
:
junta de pescado
- The old railway line was repaired by installing a new fish joint between the rails.
Examples
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Proper alignment of the fish joint is essential for safe train operation.
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Engineers inspected every fish joint to ensure the beams were securely connected.
-
The engineer designed a strong fish joint for the bridge.
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We need to use a fish joint to connect these two beams.
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Engineers inspected every fish joint to ensure the beams were securely connected.
-
Proper alignment of the fish joint is essential for safe train operation.
-
The old railway line was repaired by installing a new fish joint between the rails.
Synonyms
8
7.7
A place where two pieces meet end to end without overlap
1
4.9
A way of joining wooden boards by fitting an edge into a matching slot to make a flat strong surface
1
6.7
A connection of two pieces of wood or metal placed end to end without overlapping
1
5.8
A place where two pieces lie on top of each other and are fastened together
1
6.6
A strong connection in wood made by fitting interlocking angled pieces together
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
fish + joint
This is a domain-specific engineering term: 'fish' here does not mean the animal but relates to specialized 'fish plates', so the composite meaning (a particular butt-joint using fish plates) is not derivable from a B1 learner's knowledge of 'fish' + 'joint'. The modifier is technical and non-compositional, so the overall sense would be unpredictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Fish joint comes from a simple image: early metal plates used to bolt two rails looked a bit like a flat 'fish', so workers called the plate a fish and the place where it joined the rails a joint. So fish joint now means the spot where two rails or beams are bolted together 'to join them end to end'.