Buttress

//ˈbʌtɹɪs// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A brick, concrete or stone structure built against another structure to support it.

    "It was decided, therefore, to build eight concrete buttresses from the new strengthening work to safeguard the general stability of the wall along the length where the greatest movement had taken place."

  2. 2
    a support usually of stone or brick; supports the wall of a building wordnet
  3. 3
    Anything that serves to support something; a prop. broadly
  4. 4
    A buttress root.
  5. 5
    A feature jutting prominently out from a mountain or rock.

    "Crowell Buttresses, Dismal Buttress"

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  1. 6
    Anything that supports or strengthens. figuratively

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

Verb
  1. 1
    To support something physically with, or as if with, a prop or buttress.
  2. 2
    make stronger or defensible wordnet
  3. 3
    To support something or someone by supplying evidence. broadly, figuratively

    "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."

  4. 4
    reinforce with a buttress wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

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