Gable

gable

1. the triangular upper part of a wall between the sloping ends of a pitched roof (gable roof)

2. a triangular ornamental feature in the form of a gable, esp as used over a door or window

3. the triangular wall on both ends of a gambrel roof

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Gable

(William) Clark. 1901--60, US film actor. His films include It Happened One Night (1934), San Francisco (1936), Gone with the Wind (1939), Mogambo (1953), and The Misfits (1960)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Gable

The entire triangular end of a wall, above the level of the eaves, the top of which conforms to the slope of the roof which abuts against it, sometimes stepped and sometimes curved in a scroll shape.

bell gable

A gable-end parapet with an opening that supports a bell; it is found in Spanish Colonial architecture.

broken gable

A vertical surface at the end of a building having a broken-pitch roof; extending from the level of the cornice to the ridge of the roof.

crowstep gable

A masonry gable extended above the roof with a series of setbacks; often found in European medieval architecture, especially Dutch architecture.

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

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 It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Gable

 

(Russian, shchipets), in architecture, the upper portion of (usually) an end wall of a building, bounded by the two slopes of the roof and not separated on the bottom by a cornice (unlike a pediment). The term is sometimes applied to structures with a steep, two-sided roof that forms a gable with an acute angle; such structures sometimes surmount the main facade of a building. The Russian term vimperg is also sometimes used to mean a gable.

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

gable

[′gā·bəl]

(architecture)

The upper, triangular portion of the terminal wall of a building under the ridge of a sloped roof.

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

gable

1. A vertical surface commonly situated at the end of a building, usually adjoining a pitched roof; its shape depends on the type of roof and parapet, although most often it is triangular; often extends from the level of the cornice up to the ridge of the roof. If the gable is on the façade rather than the back end, the building is said to be front-gabled.

2. A similar end that is not triangular in shape; for example, a gambrel end (US). For definitions and illustrations for particular types see bell gable, broken gable, clipped gable, corbie gable, corbiestep gable, cross gable, crowfooted gable, crowstep gable, curvilinear gable, docked gable, Dutch gable, end gable, façade gable, Flemish gable, front-gabled, hanging gable, intersecting gable, multicurved gable, parapet gable, segmental gable, side gable, stepped gable, straight-line gable, truncated gable, tumbled-in gable, wall gable.

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