scantling

[ skant-ling ]

noun

1. a timber of relatively slight width and thickness, as a stud or rafter in a house frame.
2. such timbers collectively.
3. the width and thickness of a timber.
4. the dimensions of a building stone.
5. Nautical.
   1. a dressed timber or rolled metal member used as a framing member in a vessel.
   2. the dimension, in cross section, of a framing member.
6. a small quantity or amount.

scantling

/ ˈskæntlɪŋ /

noun

1. a piece of sawn timber, such as a rafter, that has a small cross section
2. the dimensions of a piece of building material or the structural parts of a ship, esp those in cross section
3. a building stone, esp one that is more than 6 feet in length
4. a small quantity or amount

Word History and Origins

Origin of scantling¹

1520–30; scant + -ling ¹; replacing Middle English scantilon < Old French escantillon gauge

Word History and Origins

Origin of scantling¹

C16: changed (through influence of scant and -ling ¹) from earlier scantillon, a carpenter's gauge, from Old Norman French escantillon, ultimately from Latin scandere to climb; see scan

Example Sentences

Eighty-two shipments of teak consisting mostly of board and scantling used for shipbuilding, outdoor decking and furniture were exported last year, according to the watchdog group, whose findings were gleaned from the trade database Panjiva.

From Los Angeles Times

Shirking and stealing and giving you a little more lip and a little more lip until some day you have to lay them out with a scantling or something.

From Literature

Not many people were near me and I paddled around awhile on my piece of scantling and got a little way out from the boat.

From Washington Times

Victor, with hammer and nails and scraps of scantling, was patching a comer of one of the galleries.

From Literature

It lay, tongued and grooved, with the scantling for fixing it, just where the timber merchant's men had deposited it—on the floor.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• girder
• joist
• piling
• pillar
• plank
• pole
• shaft
• sill
• timber