Wainscot
//ˈweɪnskɒt// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An area of wooden (especially oaken) panelling on the lower part of a room’s walls.
"[…] this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber, warp, warp."
- 2 wooden panels that can be used to line the walls of a room wordnet
- 3 Any of various noctuid moths.
- 4 panel forming the lower part of an interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest of the wall wordnet
Verb
- 1 To decorate a wall with a wainscot.
Example
More examples"[…] this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber, warp, warp."
Etymology
From Middle English waynscot, from Middle Low German wagenschot or Middle Dutch waghenscote, assumed to be from wagen (“wagon”) (from Old Saxon wagan) + schot, meaning “partition, crossbar," which is from or related to skiotan (“to shoot”).
Related phrases
More for "wainscot"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.