Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Trestle
Tres′tle
,Noun.
[OF.
trestel
, tresteay
, F. tréteau
; probably from L. transtillum
a little crossbeam, dim. of transtrum
a crossbeam. Cf. Transom
.] [Written also
tressel
.] 1.
A movable frame or support for anything, as scaffolding, consisting of three or four legs secured to a top piece, and forming a sort of stool or horse, used by carpenters, masons, and other workmen; also, a kind of framework of strong posts or piles, and crossbeams, for supporting a bridge, the track of a railway, or the like.
2.
The frame of a table.
Trestle board
, a board used by architects, draughtsmen, and the like, for drawing designs upon; – so called because commonly supported by trestles.
– Trestle bridge
. See under
Bridge
, Noun.
Webster 1828 Edition
Trestle
TRES'TLE
,Noun.
1.
The frame of a table.2.
A movable form for supporting any thing.3.
In bridges, a frame consisting of two posts with a head or cross beam and braces, on which rest the string-pieces. [This is the use of the word in New England. It is vulgarly pronounced trussel or trussl.]Trestle-trees, in a ship, are two strong bars of timber, fixed horizontally on the opposite sides of the lower mast-head, to support the frame of the top and the top-mast.