buttress

WOTD - 18 November 2009    

English

Wikipedia

Buttress tree roots (Kapok tree)

Etymology

From Old French bouterez, bouteret, from Frankish *botan, from Proto-Germanic *bautanan (“to push”) ( > English beat).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈbʌtɹəs/
• (US) IPA: /ˈbʌtrɪs/

Noun

buttress (plural buttresses)

1. (architecture) A brick or stone structure built against another structure to support it.
2. Anything that serves to support something; a prop.
3. (botany) A buttress-root.
4. (climbing) A feature jutting prominently out from a mountain or rock; a crag, a bluff.

   Crowell Buttresses, Dismal Buttress, Hourglass Buttress, Kardam Buttress, Seven Buttresses

   

   

   Milestone Buttress on Tryfan. The direct route is highlighted.

   • 2005, Will Cook, Until Darkness Disappears, page 54:

     All that day they rode into broken land. The prairie with its grass and rolling hills was behind them, and they entered a sparse, dry, rocky country, full of draws and short cañons and ominous buttresses.

   • 2010, Tony Howard, Treks and Climbs in Wadi Rum, Jordan, ISBN-13: 9781852842543, page 84:

     Two short pitches up a chimney-crack are followed by a traverse right to the centre of the buttress.

Derived terms

• flying buttress

Synonyms

• counterfort

Translations

brick or stone structure built against another structure to support it

Bulgarian: подпора (bg) f., опора (bg) Czech: opěrný pilíř (cs) m. Dutch: stut (nl) m., steun (nl) m., beer (nl) m., steunbeer (nl) m. Finnish: tukipilari (fi) French: arc-boutant (fr) m. contrefort (fr) m. German: Stützpfeiler (de) m., Strebepfeiler (de) m. Italian: contrafforte (it) m., contrafforti (it) m.

Norwegian: støtte (no) m. and f. Polish: przypora (pl) Russian: контрфорс (ru) m. Serbo-Croatian: potporanj (sh) Spanish: boterete (es) m., contrafuerte (es) m. Swedish: stötta (sv)

anything that serves to support something

Armenian: նեցուկ (hy) (nec’uk), հենարան (hy) (henaran) Bulgarian: опора (bg) f. Czech: opora (cs) f. Dutch: stut (nl) m., steun (nl) m. Finnish: tuki (fi) French: appui (fr) m. , corroboration (fr)

German: Stütze (de) m. Italian: supporto (it) m., corroborazione (it) Norwegian: støtte (no) m. and f. Russian: подпорка (ru) f., опора (ru) f. Serbo-Croatian: potporanj (sh), podupirač (sh) Swedish: stötta (sv)

feature jutting out from mountain; crag, bluff

Bulgarian: рид

See also

• nunatak

Verb

buttress (third-person singular simple present buttresses, present participle buttressing, simple past and past participle buttressed)

1. To support something physically with, or as if with, a prop or buttress.
2. To support something or someone by supplying evidence; to corroborate or substantiate.

Translations

support something physically with, or as if with, a buttress

Bulgarian: подпирам (bg) Dutch: stutten (nl), ondersteunen (nl) Finnish: tukea (fi) French: arc-bouter (fr) German: stützen (de), verstärken (de)

Norwegian: støtte (no) Serbo-Croatian: poduprijeti (sh), podboltati (sh) Spanish: apuntalar (es) Swedish: stötta (sv)

support something or someone by supplying evidence

Bulgarian: поддържам (bg) Dutch: ondersteunen (nl), onderbouwen (nl) Finnish: tukea (fi) French: corroborer (fr)

German: unterstützen (de) Italian: appoggiare (it), sostenere (it), rafforzare (it), corroborare (it) Norwegian: understøtte (no) Spanish: corroborar (es), afianzar (es)