Antonyms for gable


Grammar : Noun
Spell : gey-buh l
Phonetic Transcription : ˈgeɪ bəl


Definition of gable

Origin :
  • mid-14c., from Old French gable "facade, front, gable," from Old Norse gafl "gable, gable-end" (in north of England, the word is probably directly from Norse), probably from Proto-Germanic *gablaz "top of a pitched roof" (cf. Middle Dutch ghevel, Dutch gevel, Old High German gibil, German Geibel, Gothic gibla "gable"), from PIE *ghebhel.
  • Cognates seem to be words meaning both "fork" (cf. Old English gafol, geafel, Old Saxon gafala, Dutch gaffel, Old High German gabala "pitchfork," German Gabel "fork;" Old Irish gabul "forked twig") and "head" (cf. Old High German gibilla, Old Saxon gibillia "skull").
  • Possibly the primitive meaning of the words may have been 'top', 'vertex'; this may have given rise to the sense of 'gable', and this latter to the sense of 'fork', a gable being originally formed by two pieces of timber crossed at the top supporting the end of the roof-tree." [OED]
  • Related: Gabled; gables.
  • As in roof : noun building covering
Example sentences :
  • One of the ground-floor windows at the gable end of the house was open.
  • Extract from : « Casanova's Homecoming » by Arthur Schnitzler
  • The gable walls of the transepts and the western wall are also Turkish.
  • Extract from : « Byzantine Churches in Constantinople » by Alexander Van Millingen
  • You'll find him lying in the garret at the west end of the gable—drunk.
  • Extract from : « A Son of Hagar » by Sir Hall Caine
  • If he heard a sigh from the dairy loft, he sat down against the gable and groaned.
  • Extract from : « The Manxman » by Hall Caine
  • Always used of the gable loft, you know, and the wind above the thatch.
  • Extract from : « The Manxman » by Hall Caine
  • The gable showed above the trees, and I pointed it out to him.
  • Extract from : « Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete » by Albert Bigelow Paine
  • Of the feathers of doves that slip And snow on the gable steep?
  • Extract from : « Enamels and Cameos and other Poems » by Thophile Gautier
  • From a gable the flag of her country waved, and she stopped mystified.
  • Extract from : « In Happy Valley » by John Fox
  • The opening for the dial face of the clock should be at one of the gable ends.
  • Extract from : « Carpentry for Boys » by J. S. Zerbe
  • There is a stork's nest on the summit of the gable; for we can't do without the stork.
  • Extract from : « What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales » by Hans Christian Andersen

Synonyms for gable

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019