Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dovetail

Dove′tail′ (·tāl′), n. (Carp.) A flaring tenon, or tongue (shaped like a bird's tail spread), and a mortise, or socket, into which it fits tightly, making an interlocking joint between two pieces which resists pulling a part in all directions except one.

Dovetail molding (Arch.), a molding of any convex section arranged in a sort of zigzag, like a series of dovetails. — Dovetail saw (Carp.), a saw used in dovetailing.

Dove′tail′, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dovetailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Dovetailing.] 1. (Carp.) (a) To cut to a dovetail. (b) To join by means of dovetails.

2. To fit in or connect strongly, skillfully, or nicely; to fit ingeniously or complexly.

He put together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dovetailed . . . that it was indeed a very curious show. 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 “?”.