gusset

English

Alternative forms

• gousset

Etymology

From Middle English gusset, gysset, from Old French gosset, gousset (“the hollow of the armpit”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌsɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɡasət/
• Rhymes: -ʌsɪt

Noun

gusset (plural gussets)

1. A small piece of cloth inserted in a garment, for the purpose of strengthening some part or giving it a tapering enlargement cf. godet.
2. A gousset, a piece of mail providing protection where armor plates meet.
3. (machinery) A kind of bracket, or angular piece of iron, fastened in the angles of a structure to give strength or stiffness; especially, the part joining the barrel and the fire box of a locomotive boiler.
4. (heraldry) An ordinary on a coat of arms, resembling a gusset (see usage notes).
5. (roofing) A large flat metal piece wider than the valley to help prevent build-up at the base of the valley, either from debris or ice dam formations.

Usage notes

• Early heraldic writers (Gerard Legh, The Accidens of Armory, 1576; John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie, 1611) said the gusset was an abatement or mark of dishonor coming in from the side of the shield like a straight-edged heraldic gore, and blazoned the image above on a field gules, two gussets argent; the mark does not seem to be found in use in medieval English arms. In modern English heraldry, and in French (and German, etc.) arms where it is used, the gusset (French gousset) is instead the central red pall-like mark, and the image is blazoned on a field argent, a gusset gules.

Derived terms

• gusset plate

Translations

Verb

gusset (third-person singular simple present gussets, present participle gusseting, simple past and past participle gusseted)

1. (transitive) To make with a gusset; to sew a gusset into.

Further reading

• Wikipedia article on armor.

Anagrams

• guests