Meanings
plural wainscots
- architectureAn area of wooden (especially oaken) panelling on the lower part of a room’s walls.
[…] this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber, warp, warp.
1598, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, act 3, scene 31 more example
Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11 - Any of various noctuid moths.
present singular third person wainscots · participle present wainscoting · participle present wainscotting · participle past wainscoted · past wainscoted · participle past wainscotted · past wainscotted
- To decorate a wall with a wainscot.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounpanel forming the lower part of an interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest of the wall
nounwooden panels that can be used to line the walls of a room
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Saxonwagan
- Middle Dutchwaghenscote
- Middle Low Germanwagenschot
- Middle Englishwaynscot
- Englishwainscot
From Middle English waynscot, from Middle Low German wagenschot or Middle Dutch waghenscote, assumed to be from wagen (“wagon”) (from Old Saxon wagan) + schot, meaning “partition, crossbar," which is from or related to skiotan (“to shoot”).
More words from Middle English, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic خَشَّبَ
- خَشَّبَ (ḵaššaba)to decorate a wall with a wainscot
Bulgarian ламперия, облицовам с ламперия
- ламперия (lamperija)an area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
- облицовам с ламперия (oblicovam s lamperija)to decorate a wall with a wainscot
Dutch lambrisering, lambriseren
- lambriseringan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
- lambriserento decorate a wall with a wainscot
Finnish puolipaneeli
- puolipaneelian area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Hungarian lambéria, faburkolat
- lambériaan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
- faburkolatan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Icelandic lágþiljur, brjóstpanill
- lágþiljuran area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
- brjóstpanillan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Irish vuinsciú
- vuinsciúan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Russian пане́ль
- пане́ль (panélʹ)an area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Spanish arrimadero
- arrimaderoan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Tagalog arimadilyo
- arimadilyoan area of wooden panelling on the lower part of a room's walls
Cite this entry
wainscot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wainscot
“wainscot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wainscot. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wainscot,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wainscot.
Source: wainscot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.