trestle

English

saw-trestle or sawhorse (1,2)

wooden trestle bridge (3,4)

Etymology

From Middle English trestel, from Old French trestel (“crossbeam”) (French tréteau), from Latin trānstellum, diminutive of trānstrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛsəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsəl

Noun

trestle (plural trestles)

1. A horizontal member supported near each end by a pair of divergent legs, such as sawhorses.
2. A folding or fixed set of legs used to support a tabletop or planks.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:

     He turned the knob, but the door was locked. Retracing his steps past a vacant lot, the young man entered a shop where a colored man was employed in varnishing a coffin, which stood on two trestles in the middle of the floor.

3. A framework, using spreading, divergent pairs of legs used to support a bridge.
4. A trestle bridge.

Derived terms

• saw-trestle
• trestle bed
• trestle board
• trestle table
• trestle tree
• trestlework

Translations

a horizontal member supported near each end by a pair of divergent legs

• Bulgarian: магаре (bg) n (magare)
• Dutch: schraag (nl) f
• Finnish: pukki (fi)
• French: tréteau (fr) m
• Italian: cavalletto (it) m, trespolo (it) m, capra (it) f
• Japanese: 架台 (ja) (kadai), 馬 (ja) (uma), 脚立 (ja) (kyatatsu)
• Latin: vara (la) f
• Maori: kaupae
• Middle English: trest, trestel
• Ottoman Turkish: سه‌پا (sehpa)
• Russian: ко́злы (ru) f pl (kozly)
• Scottish Gaelic: sorchan m
• Spanish: caballete (es) m

a folding or fixed set of legs used to support a table-top or planks

• Catalan: cavallet (ca) m
• Finnish: pukki (fi)
• French: tréteau (fr)
• Galician: cabalete (gl) m
• German: Bock (de) m, Gestell (de) n
• Italian: capra (it) f, cavalletto (it) m
• Japanese: 架台 (ja) (kadai)
• Middle English: trest, trestel
• Ottoman Turkish: سه‌پا (sehpa)
• Plautdietsch: Steilozh f
• Scottish Gaelic: sorchan m
• Swedish: bock (sv) c

a framework, using spreading, divergent pairs of legs used to support a bridge

• Bulgarian: подпора (bg) f (podpora)
• Finnish: pukki (fi)
• German: Gerüst (de) n
• Italian: intelaiatura (it) f, traliccio (it) m
• Japanese: 架台 (ja) (kadai)
• Plautdietsch: Steilozh f
• Portuguese: cavalete (pt) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} schraag (nl), ^{(please verify)} zaagbok (nl)

Further reading

• trestle bridge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Stelter, Stetler, letters, lettres, settler, sterlet, tetrels

Middle English

Noun

trestle

1. Alternative form of trestel