buttress

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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🗓️ 20 February 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 20, 2024 is:

buttress • \BUTT-russ\ • noun

A buttress is a structure built against a wall in order to support or strengthen it. More broadly, buttress may refer to anything that supports or strengthens. Buttress may also refer to something that resembles a buttress, such as a projecting part of a mountain or hill, a horny protuberance on a horse's hoof at the heel, or the broadened base of a tree trunk or a thickened vertical part of it.

// After the wall collapsed, the construction company agreed to rebuild it with a buttress.

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Examples:

"Between November 2018 and May 2021, the glacier retreated eight kilometres as the ice shelf at the end of the glacier ... disappeared. The ice shelf would have acted as a buttress, slowing the movement of the glacier towards the sea." — The University of Leeds (environment.leeds.ac.uk), 29 Nov. 2023

Did you know?

The word buttress first budded in the world of architecture during the 14th century, when it was used to describe an exterior support that projects from a wall to resist the sideways force, called thrust, created by the load on an arch or roof. The word ultimately comes from the Anglo-French verb buter, meaning "to thrust." Buter is also the source of our verb butt, meaning "to thrust, push, or strike with the head or horns." Buttress developed figurative use relatively soon after its adoption, being applied to anything that supports or strengthens something else. No buts about it: the world would not be the same without buttresses.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for February 20th.
0:11.4	Today's word is buttress, spelled B-U-T-T-R-E-S-S-B-S-E-S-But is a noun. A buttress is a structure built against a wall in order to support or strengthen it. More broadly,
0:24.6	buttress may refer to anything that supports or strengthens.
0:28.2	Butress may also refer to something that resembles a buttress,
0:32.4	such as a projecting part of a mountain or
0:34.9	hill a horny protuberance on a horse's hoof at the heel or the broadened
0:41.0	base of a tree trunk or a thickened vertical part of it.
0:44.4	Here's the word used in a sentence from the University of Leeds environmental blog.
0:50.6	Between November 2018 and May 2021, the Glacier retreated 8 kilometers as the ice shelf at the end of the glacier disappeared.
1:00.0	The ice shelf would have acted as a buttress slowing the movement of the glacier towards the sea.
1:08.0	The word buttress first butted in the world of architecture during the 14th century when it was used to describe an
1:14.8	exterior support that projects from a wall to resist the sideways force called
1:20.1	thrust created by the load on an arch or roof. The word ultimately comes from the
1:26.1	Anglo-French verb Bhutee meaning to thrust. Bhutee is also the source of our
1:32.0	verb but beut t meaning to thrust push or strike with the
1:36.7	head or horns. Butress developed figurative use relatively soon after its adoption, being applied to anything that supports or
1:45.1	strengthens something else.
1:47.4	No butts about it.
1:48.9	The world would not be the same without buttresses. With your word of the day I'm Peter Sokoloski.
1:55.0	Visit Marion Webster.com today for definitions, wordplay and and trending word lookups.

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