flying buttress
noun Architecture.
a segmental arch transmitting an outward and downward thrust to a solid buttress that through its inertia transforms the thrust into a vertical one.
Origin of flying buttress
First recorded in 1660–70
Words nearby flying buttress
flying boat,
flying bomb,
flying bond,
flying boxcar,
flying bridge,
flying buttress,
flying characin,
flying circus,
flying colors,
flying colours,
flying column
Example sentences from the Web for flying buttress
Westward of this, and standing clear of the wall, is a fine fourteenth-century flying-buttress.
Bell's Cathedrals: Chichester (1901) |Hubert C. Corlette
British Dictionary definitions for flying buttress
flying buttress
noun
a buttress supporting a wall or other structure by an arch or part of an arch that transmits the thrust outwards and downwards
Also called: arc-boutant
Cultural definitions for flying buttress
flying buttress
An external, arched support for the wall of a church or other building. Flying buttresses were used in many Gothic cathedrals (see also cathedral); they enabled builders to put up very tall but comparatively thin stone walls, so that much of the wall space could be filled with stained-glass windows. The cathedrals of Chartres and Notre Dame de Paris were built with flying buttresses.