crémaillère
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French crémaillère.
Noun
crémaillère (plural crémaillères)
- An indented or zigzagging line of entrenchment used in fortification.
References
- “crémaillère”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
French
Alternative forms
- cramaillère, cramaillier (archaic)
Etymology
From Old French cramail + -ière, from Latin cramalius, cramalium, cramaculus, cramaculum (“trammel”), alteration of cremasculus, cremasculum (“trammel”), diminutive of cremaster from Ancient Greek κρεμαστήρ (kremastḗr).
Pronunciation
Noun
crémaillère f (plural crémaillères)
- trammel; a type of hook from which a cooking pot can be suspended over a hearth fire at different heights as needed for the right cooking temperature
- (rail transport) rack, rack-and-pinion
- (military) crémaillère (indented or zigzagging line of entrenchment used in fortification)
- ellipsis of pendaison de crémaillère; housewarming
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Catalan: cremallera
- → English: crémaillère
- → Portuguese: cremalheira
- → Spanish: cremallera
Further reading
- “crémaillère”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012