gambrel

[ gam-bruhl ]
See synonyms for gambrel on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the hock of an animal, especially of a horse.

  2. Also called gambrel stick . a wood or metal device for suspending a slaughtered animal.

Origin of gambrel

1
1540–50; <Old North French gamberel, akin to French jambier legging, jambe leg

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use gambrel in a sentence

  • The gambrels used in slaughtering times, hay-hooks, long-handled pothooks for brick ovens, could all be cut ready-shaped.

    Home Life in Colonial Days | Alice Morse Earle
  • At butchering time the dead hogs are hung on the scaffold by slipping the gambrels upon the horizontal crosspieces.

    Home Pork Making | A. W. Fulton
  • Gambrels should be provided of different lengths, if the hogs vary much in size.

    Home Pork Making | A. W. Fulton

British Dictionary definitions for gambrel

gambrel

/ (ˈɡæmbrəl) /


noun
  1. the hock of a horse or similar animal

  2. a frame of wood or metal shaped like a horse's hind leg, used by butchers for suspending carcasses of meat

  1. short for gambrel roof

Origin of gambrel

1
C16: from Old Northern French gamberel, from gambe leg

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012