trestle
/ˈtrɛs(ə)l
/noun
1A framework consisting of a horizontal beam supported by two pairs of sloping legs, used in pairs to support a flat surface such as a table top.Among the ship's fittings were lanterns with hinged and sliding doors as well as furniture, including stools, benches, folding stands, trestles and tables....
- A trestle and Formica table lined one wall; polystyrene boxes of paints, pastels, coloured pencils sit on rough-sawn benches opposite.
- The serving men were clearing the last of the cups, and the Danes themselves began to take the tables off their trestles and to bring in the pallets from the passageway.
1.1 short for trestle table.What you see on the loaded trestles and sagging stalls, lining the waterfront here, will end up on a thousand restaurant tables by the end of the day....
- City leisure chiefs plan to have around 50 per cent of the market stalls made in a traditional German style with wooden trestles and canopies.
- I even quite like the ostentatiously distressed trestles and folding chairs they use outside, and the formulaic battered club chairs in the window.
1.2 (also trestlework) An open braced framework used to support an elevated structure such as a bridge.He hadn't immediately recognized the purpose of the pairs of gleaming metal rails which ran down long ramps and intricately braced trestle bridges from several dark openings in the mountainside....
- Apparently no structures other than a trestle appeared on the branch to Ansted.
- Nearby, the engineers are also building a timber trestle bridge to allow year round access for Klaipeda's rural residents to cross a flood plain.
1.3 (also trestletree) Each of a pair of horizontal pieces on a sailing ship’s lower mast supporting the topmast.With the areas identified and a metal recycler found, 2005 should see the removal of old trestles out of Clew Bay.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French trestel, based on Latin transtrum 'beam'.