lintel

noun

lin·​tel ˈlin-tᵊl 

: a horizontal architectural member spanning and usually carrying the load above an opening

Illustration of lintel

• 1 lintel

Examples of lintel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The TikTok clip opens with Matson pointing out corroding steel lintels, which are structural supports placed above windows and other openings to sustain the building's weight. —Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025

Last week, like the Jews of Exodus painting blood on their lintels, hundreds of thousands of Instagram users posted a block of text to their accounts hoping to avoid the plague of artificial intelligence online. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2024

These, in turn, support stone lintels — horizontal spans also made of rock, some of which are slotted together with joints. —Evan Bush, NBC News, 14 Aug. 2024

The museum had previously returned another object—the Vishnu lintel—to the same temple in the 1988. —Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 18 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French *lintel, alteration of linter threshold, from Late Latin limitaris, from Latin, constituting a boundary, from limit-, limes boundary

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

lintel

noun

lin·​tel ˈlint-ᵊl 

: a horizontal piece across the top of an opening (as of a door) that carries the weight of the structure above it