bressummer

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noun

A large, horizontal supporting beam which bears the weight of a wall starting on a first or higher floor, particularly when exposed or used to support a jetty (timber-frame overhang construction).

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounbressummer (plural bressummers)

plural bressummers · alternative breastsummer · alternative bressemer · alternative bressumer · alternative brestsummer · alternative breastsommer · alternative bressomer

  1. architectureA large, horizontal supporting beam which bears the weight of a wall starting on a first or higher floor, particularly when exposed or used to support a jetty (timber-frame overhang construction).

    Once the floor joists were in position, the framing of the next storey could continue, with a bressummer laid along their ends.

    1986, R. J. Brown, Timber-Framed Buildings of England, London: R. Hale, →ISBN, page 63
    1 more example

    East Lodge at Queen's Park, Crewe, dates from 1887-1888. Its bressummer inscription commemorates the Jubilee of Queen Victoria and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Grand Junction Railway.

    2022 September 7, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway towns and a social revolution”, in RAIL, number 965, page 56, photo caption

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

Alteration of breastsummer, from breast (“front or forward part”) + summer (“beam”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bressummer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bressummer

MLA

“bressummer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bressummer. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bressummer,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bressummer.

Source: bressummer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.