buttress

buttress

English

WOTD – 18 November 2009

Buttress (sense 1)

Buttress (sense 3) tree roots of a kapok tree

Milestone Buttress (sense 4) on Tryfan. The direct route is highlighted.

Alternative forms

• buttrice

Etymology

From Old French ars bouterez (noun, literally “supporting arcs”), from bouterez (adj), oblique plural of bouteret (rare in the singular), from Frankish *botan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push”). Ultimately cognate with beat.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌtɹəs/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌtɹɪs/

Noun

buttress (plural buttresses)

1. (architecture) A brick or stone structure built against another structure to support it.

   Synonyms: counterfort, brace

   Hyponym: flying buttress

   Coordinate term: pilaster

2. (by extension) Anything that serves to support something; a prop.
3. (botany) A buttress-root.
4. (climbing) A feature jutting prominently out from a mountain or rock.

   Synonyms: crag, bluff

   Crowell Buttresses, Dismal Buttress

   • 2005, Will Cook, Until Darkness Disappears, page 54:

     All that day they rode into broken land. The prairie with its grass and rolling hills was behind them, and they entered a sparse, dry, rocky country, full of draws and short cañons and ominous buttresses.

   • 2010, Tony Howard, Treks and Climbs in Wadi Rum, Jordan, →ISBN, page 84:

     Two short pitches up a chimney-crack are followed by a traverse right to the centre of the buttress.

5. (figuratively) Anything that supports or strengthens.
   • 1692 October 30, Robert South, A Further Account of the Nature and Measures of Conscience:

     the grand pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity

Derived terms

• flying buttress

Translations

brick or stone structure built against another structure to support it

Bulgarian: контрафорс (bg) m (kontrafors) Catalan: contrafort (ca) m Czech: opěrný pilíř m Dutch: stut (nl) m, steun (nl) m, beer (nl) m, steunbeer (nl) m Finnish: tukipilari (fi) French: arc-boutant (fr) m contrefort (fr) m Galician: contraforte (gl) m German: Stützpfeiler (de) m, Strebepfeiler m, Gewölbepfeiler m, Pfeiler (de) m, Gegenlager n, Strebewerk n Greek: αντηρίδα (el) f (antirída) Italian: contrafforte (it) m, contrafforti (it) m, sperone (it) m Latin: erisma n Macedonian: потпорка f (potporka), контрафор m (kontrafor) Norwegian: støtte (no) m or f Polish: przypora (pl) Portuguese: botaréu (pt) m, contraforte (pt) m Romanian: contrafort (ro) n Russian: контрфорс (ru) m (kontrfors) Serbo-Croatian: potporanj (sh) Spanish: boterete m, contrafuerte (es) m, estantal (es) m, machón (es) m, estribo (es) m Swedish: stötta (sv), strävpelare (sv) c

anything that serves to support something

Armenian: նեցուկ (hy) (necʿuk), հենարան (hy) (henaran) Bulgarian: опора (bg) f (opora), подпора (bg) f (podpora) Czech: opora (cs) f Dutch: stut (nl) m, steun (nl) m Finnish: tuki (fi) French: appui (fr) m, corroboration (fr) German: Stütze (de) m, Strebe (de) f, Aussteifung f, Abstützung (de) f, Stempel (de) m Italian: supporto (it) m, corroborazione, sperone (it) m Macedonian: потпора f (potpora) Maori: hirinaki, whirinaki, kaumahaki (often refers to temporary supports) Norwegian: støtte (no) m or f Polish: podpora (pl) f Portuguese: contraforte (pt) m, apoio (pt) m, proteção (pt) f, anteparo (pt) m, reforço (pt) m Russian: подпорка (ru) f (podporka), опо́ра (ru) f (opóra) Serbo-Croatian: potporanj (sh), podupirač (sh) Spanish: sostén (es) m, apoyo (es) m, refuerzo (es) m Swedish: stötta (sv)

feature jutting out from mountain; crag, bluff

Bulgarian: рид (bg) (rid) German: Vorsprung (de) m, Vorbau (de) m, Klippe (de) f, Felsspitze f, Felsenspitze f, Felsvorsprung (de) m Italian: sperone (it) m Portuguese: contraforte (pt) m Spanish: contrafuerte (es) m, estribo (es) m

Verb

buttress (third-person singular simple present buttresses, present participle buttressing, simple past and past participle buttressed)

1. To support something physically with, or as if with, a prop or buttress.
2. (figuratively, by extension) To support something or someone by supplying evidence.

   Synonyms: corroborate, substantiate

   • 2021 April 14, Diana B. Henriques, “Bernard Madoff, Architect of Largest Ponzi Scheme in History, Is Dead at 82”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     Buttressed by elaborate account statements and a deep reservoir of trust from his investors and regulators, Mr. Madoff steered his fraud scheme safely through a severe recession in the early 1990s, a global financial crisis in 1998 and the anxious aftermath of the terrorist attacks in September 2001.

Translations

support something physically with, or as if with, a buttress

Bulgarian: подпирам (bg) (podpiram) Dutch: stutten (nl), ondersteunen (nl) Finnish: tukea (fi) French: arc-bouter (fr) German: stützen (de), verstärken (de) Macedonian: потпира (potpira) Norwegian: støtte (no) Serbo-Croatian: poduprijeti (sh), podboltati Spanish: apuntalar (es) Swedish: stötta (sv)

support something or someone by supplying evidence

Bulgarian: поддържам (bg) (poddǎržam) Dutch: ondersteunen (nl), onderbouwen (nl) Finnish: tukea (fi) French: corroborer (fr) German: unterstützen (de) Italian: appoggiare (it), sostenere (it), rafforzare (it), corroborare (it) Macedonian: поддржува (poddržuva) Norwegian: understøtte Spanish: corroborar (es), afianzar (es)

Further reading

• buttress on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• betrusts