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Webster 1913 Edition


Trestle

Tres′tle

,
Noun.
[OF.
trestel
,
tresteay
, F.
tréteau
; probably from L.
transtillum
a little crossbeam, dim. of
transtrum
a crossbeam. Cf.
Transom
.]
[Written also
tressel
.]
1.
A movable frame or support for anything, as scaffolding, consisting of three or four legs secured to a top piece, and forming a sort of stool or horse, used by carpenters, masons, and other workmen; also, a kind of framework of strong posts or piles, and crossbeams, for supporting a bridge, the track of a railway, or the like.
2.
The frame of a table.
Trestle board
,
a board used by architects, draughtsmen, and the like, for drawing designs upon; – so called because commonly supported by trestles.
–
Trestle bridge
.
See under
Bridge
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition


Trestle

TRES'TLE

,
Noun.
tres'l.
1.
The frame of a table.
2.
A movable form for supporting any thing.
3.
In bridges, a frame consisting of two posts with a head or cross beam and braces, on which rest the string-pieces. [This is the use of the word in New England. It is vulgarly pronounced trussel or trussl.]
Trestle-trees, in a ship, are two strong bars of timber, fixed horizontally on the opposite sides of the lower mast-head, to support the frame of the top and the top-mast.