lin·tel

(lĭn′tl)

A horizontal structural member, such as a beam or stone, that spans an opening, as between the uprights of a door or window or between two columns or piers.

[Middle English, from Old French, probably alteration of lintier, from Vulgar Latin *līmitāris, of a threshold (meaning influenced by Latin līmen, threshold), from Latin, on a border, from līmes, līmit-, boundary.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lintel

(ˈlɪntəl)

(Architecture) a horizontal beam, as over a door or window

[C14: via Old French probably from Late Latin līmitāris (unattested) of the boundary, influenced in meaning by līminaris of the threshold]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lin•tel

art at lipycyte

(ˈlɪn tl)

n.

a horizontal architectural member supporting the weight above an opening, as a window or a door.

[1350–1400; Middle English lyntel < Middle French lintel, dissimilated variant of *linter < Latin līmitāris orig., of a boundary, later taken as synonym of līmināris of a lintel]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

lintel - horizontal beam used as a finishing piece over a door or window

header

beam - long thick piece of wood or metal or concrete, etc., used in construction

Translations

dintel

linteau

architrave

lintel

[ˈlɪntl] N → dintel m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

lintel

[ˈlɪnt^əl] n → linteau m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

lintel

n (Archit) → Sturz m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

lintel

[ˈlɪntl] n → architrave m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

That with soft touch now brightens into jade Lintel and door, and when she lifts the blind Floats through the darkened chamber of her sleep; While leagues away my love-winged messages Go flocking home; and though they mingle not, Our thoughts seek one another.

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The doors were gold, and hung on pillars of silver that rose from a floor of bronze, while the lintel was silver and the hook of the door was of gold.

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Athelny had told him that he lived in a house built by Inigo Jones; he had raved, as he raved over everything, over the balustrade of old oak; and when he came down to open the door for Philip he made him at once admire the elegant carving of the lintel. It was a shabby house, badly needing a coat of paint, but with the dignity of its period, in a little street between Chancery Lane and Holborn, which had once been fashionable but was now little better than a slum: there was a plan to pull it down in order to put up handsome offices; meanwhile the rents were small, and Athelny was able to get the two upper floors at a price which suited his income.

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Her foot is on the very lintel of the church, and yet he bars the way--and she, she thinks no more of the wise words and holy rede of the lady abbess, but she hath given a sobbing cry and hath fallen forward with his arms around her drooping body and her wet cheek upon his breast.

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I stooped under the rude lintel, and there he sat upon a stone outside, his gray eyes dancing with amusement as they fell upon my astonished features.

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Still grows the vivacious lilac a generation after the door and lintel and the sill are gone, unfolding its sweet-scented flowers each spring, to be plucked by the musing traveller; planted and tended once by children's hands, in front-yard plots -- now standing by wallsides in retired pastures, and giving place to new-rising forests; -- the last of that stirp, sole survivor of that family.

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We passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived, and walked up an oak-lined avenue to the fine old Queen Anne house, which bears the date of Malplaquet upon the lintel of the door.

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One edge of the door was formed of a straight, round pole about two inches in diameter that protruded at top and bottom, the projections setting in round holes in both lintel and sill forming the axis upon which the door swung.

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Above the black cloth that covered the coffin rose the green sprays of a jessamine that grew beside the doorway, and a twisted vine shoot, already in leaf, overran the lintel. Even the saddest ceremonies demand that things shall appear to the best advantage, and in obedience to this vaguely-felt requirement a young girl had been sweeping the front of the house.

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But he had not to ring at all; and suddenly I saw his foot in the letter-box, his left hand on the lintel overhead.

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He noticed, at the lintels of the door, some rabbits' tails and zebras' manes, suspended as talismans.

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Of this commission the bare-armed Bob, leading the way with a flaming wisp of paper, so speedily acquitted himself, that Cosy seemed to leap out of a dark sleep and embrace them warmly, the moment they passed the lintels of its hospitable door.

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