transom
/ˈtɹæn.səm/ noun
Forms transoms
- noun (architecture) A crosspiece over a door; a lintel.
- noun (architecture) A horizontal glazing bar in a window.
- noun A transom window.
- noun (nautical) Any of several transverse structural members in a ship, especially at the stern; a thwart.
- noun (nautical) The flat or nearly flat stern of a boat or ship.
- noun The horizontal beam on a cross or gallows.
- noun (figuratively, usually attributively) Items that have arrived over the transom. “We are overwhelmed with transom resumes.”
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English traunsom; probably an alteration of Latin trānstrum (“crossbeam”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A horizontal crossbar in a window, over a door, or between a door and a window above it. Transom is the horizontal, as mullion is the vertical, bar across an opening. See Illust. of Mullion.
- noun One of the principal transverse timbers of the stern, bolted to the sternpost and giving shape to the stern structure; --called also transsummer.
Etymology [Probably fr. L. transtrum a crossbeam, transom, from trans across. Cf. Trestle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “transom”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details