gambrel
Americannoun
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the hock of an animal, especially of a horse.
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Also called gambrel stick. a wood or metal device for suspending a slaughtered animal.
noun
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the hock of a horse or similar animal
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a frame of wood or metal shaped like a horse's hind leg, used by butchers for suspending carcasses of meat
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short for gambrel roof
Etymology
Origin of gambrel
1540–50; < Old North French gamberel, akin to French jambier legging, jambe leg
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Here, rooflines are Hitchcockian, with gable and gambrel shapes.
From Washington Post • Jan. 12, 2022
The owner of a longtime Summerland antiques barn had died, and the "historically delightful" 1921 structure — complete with gambrel roof and grounds with potential — was available.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2018
River view, sitting porch with four Ionic columns, gambrel roof, two chimneys.
From Washington Times • Dec. 1, 2016
In the center of Paramaribo, the capital, whitewashed wooden colonial buildings, festooned with multi-storey balconies and gambrel roofs, sit alongside grassy canals, providing a flavor of the country’s past as a Dutch colony.
From Slate • Dec. 18, 2015
Its sides—clad in weather-beaten shingles and inset with a series of large windows—slanted obliquely inward, rising toward a gambrel roof.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.