Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Buttress

But′tress (bŭt′trĕs), n. [OE. butrasse, boterace, fr. F. bouter to push; cf. OF. bouteret (nom. sing. and acc. pl. bouterez) buttress. See Butt an end, and cf. Butteris.] 1. (Arch.) A projecting mass of masonry, used for resisting the thrust of an arch, or for ornament and symmetry.

☞ When an external projection is used merely to stiffen a wall, it is a pier.

2. Anything which supports or strengthens. "The ground pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity." South.

Flying buttress. See Flying buttress.

But′tress (bŭt′trĕs), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Buttressed; p. pr. & vb. n. Buttressing.] To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly.

To set it upright again, and to prop and buttress it up for duration. Burke.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.