mortise

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English morteys, from Old French mortaise, from Arabic مُرْتَزّ (murtazz), from اِرْتَزَّ (irtazza).

Pronunciation

Noun

mortise (plural mortises)

  1. (woodworking) A hole that is made to receive a tenon so as to form a joint.
    Coordinate terms: rabbet, rebate, tenon
    • 2016 September 6, A Little Book of Woodworking Joints - Including Dovetailing, Mortise-and-Tenon and Mitred Joints, 2nd edition (paperback), Read Books Limited, →ISBN:
      If there is much gauging for the same size mortise and tenon to be done, and if a mortise gauge is not handy, a simple improvised gauge for the purpose can easily be made with two pieces of wood and four or five steel sprigs…
    • 1918, Herman Frederick Rusch, Shop Work, Joinery-cabinet-making-carpentry, Chicago, Illinois, United States: University of Chicago Press, page 56:
      A keyed mortise-and-tenon joint is constructed the same as a doweled mortise and tenon joint except that the tenon projects far enough through the mortise to admit the insertion of a tapering key which draws the mortised piece firmly against the shoulder of the tenon.
  2. Stability; power of adhesion.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mortise (third-person singular simple present mortises, present participle mortising, simple past and past participle mortised)

  1. (transitive, woodworking) To cut a mortise in.
    • 1918, Herman Frederick Rusch, Shop Work, Joinery-cabinet-making-carpentry, Chicago, Illinois, United States: University of Chicago Press, page 56:
      A keyed mortise-and-tenon joint is constructed the same as a doweled mortise and tenon joint except that the tenon projects far enough through the mortise to admit the insertion of a tapering key which draws the mortised piece firmly against the shoulder of the tenon.
  2. (transitive, woodworking) To join by a mortise and tenon.
    • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 79:
      Sculptures from Mohenjodaro and Tell Asmar in 2400 B.C. show wheels consisting of three pieces of wood mortised together, and bound with leather tyres which were attached with copper nails. These wheels turned in one piece with the axle, which was secured to the body of the sledge with leather thongs.
  3. (typography) To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters; to kern.

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