buttress

buttress

1. a construction, usually of brick or stone, built to support a wall

2. either of the two pointed rear parts of a horse's hoof

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Buttress

An exterior mass of masonry projecting from the wall to absorb the lateral thrusts from roof vaults; either unbroken in their height or broken into stages, with a successive reduction in their projection and width. The offsets dividing these stages are generally sloped at a very acute angle. They terminate at the top with a plain slope ending at the wall or with a triangular pediment.

angle buttress

One of the two buttresses at right angles to each other; forming the corner of a structure.

diagonal buttress

A buttress that bisects the 270-degree angle at the outside corner of a building.

flying buttress

A characteristic feature of Gothic construction in which the lateral thrusts of a roof or vault are carried by a segmental masonry arch, usually sloping, to a solid pier or support that is sufficiently massive to receive the thrust.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

buttress

[′bə·trəs]

(architecture)

An upright projection that supports or resists lateral forces in a building.

(botany)

A ridge of wood developed in the angle between a lateral root and the butt of a tree.

(civil engineering)

A pier constructed at right angles to a restraining wall on the side opposite to the restrained material; increases the strength and thrust resistance of the wall.

(paleontology)

A ridge on the inner surface of a pelecypod valve which acts as a support for part of the hinge.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

buttress

buttresses

An exterior mass of masonry set at an angle to or bonded into a wall which it strengthens or supports; buttresses often absorb lateral thrusts from roof vaults. Also see flying buttress, hanging buttress.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Buttress

 

a transverse wall, a vertical projection or rib that reinforces the main supporting structure (primarily the outer wall of a building) and absorbs the horizontal pressure (the thrust from the arched ceiling, the pressure of the earth against the retaining walls, hydrostatic pressure against the foundation of a dam). The cross section usually increases toward the base of the wall (smoothly or with ledges). Against small horizontal thrusts, the cross sections can remain at one height. Buttresses can be made out of stone, concrete, or reinforced concrete. The stone buttress was one of the principal elements of Gothic structures. Buttresses are widely used to reinforce walls during the restoration of architectural monuments.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.