Descriptionary

frankpledge the responsibility of each division of a community to carry out police duties and to see to it that the law is upheld.

glebe land cultivated to help support a parish church.

hue and cry a law requiring that all citizens within earshot give chase to a fleeing criminal.

infangenethef the right to confiscate the belongings of a convicted thief.

leirwite a fine given a single woman for sexual indiscretions.

manor a lord's estate, including those portions cul­tivated by tenants.

merchet a serf's payment for a daughter's marriage.

messuage a house and yard in a village.

mortuary a duty, usually one's second-best beast, paid to the church upon death.

pannage a fee paid to a lord to allow one's pigs to forage for acorns, nuts, and apples on a forest floor.

reeve a manor official who made sure that tenants who owed the lord of the manor labor repaid him promptly.

serf a peasant; a villein.

tallage an annual tax paid by villeins to a lord.

tithe traditional donation of 10 percent of all crops to the church.

tithing a group of 10 to 12 men, each responsible for the other's behavior in a village.

toft a yard of a house in a village.

villein a serf.

virgate a unit of land from 18 to 32 acres, thought to be sufficient to support a peasant and his family.

woodward a manor official responsible for a lord's woodland.

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

aggregate sand, stone, or gravel used to make con­crete.

anchor bolts bolts set in the top of a concrete foun­dation to hold structural members in place.

backfill earth mounded up around a foundation's walls to create a slope for water runoff.

balloon framing a form of house construction in which the upright studs extend all the way from the sill to the roof, a technique that has largely grown out of favor.

balusters the spindles or poles that support a stair railing.

balustrade a row of balusters topped with a rail.

baseboard the interior trim that runs around the walls next to the floor.

batten a strip of wood used to cover a joint, espe­cially between siding boards.

bay window any curved, rectangular, or polygonal window that projects out from a wall.

beam a large, supportive structural member, usually running from one foundation wall to another and held up by pillars or poles.

bearing wall any wall that bears the weight of a ceiling, floor, or roof above it. Also known as a load- bearing wall or a bearing partition.

belvedere a small, glass-enclosed room used as a lookout on the roof of a house.

berm a mound or bank of earth formed to shunt drainage away from a house.

bevel to cut at an angle, as in beveled siding; thicker on one end than the other.

bibcock or bib nozzle a faucet on the outside of the house around or above the foundation. Also known as a sill cock.

board-and-batten siding siding of broad boards lined together with narrow boards or battens nailed over their joints.

breezeway a sheltered passageway between a garage and a house.

bricklaying The following are common terms.

common bond a bricklaying style characterized by several courses of overlapping stretchers interspersed with an occasional course of headers.

course one row of bricks.

English bond a bricklaying style characterized by alternating courses of headers and stretchers.

Flemish bond a bricklaying style characterized by courses consisting of alternating headers and stretch­ers forming an overall diamond pattern.

garden wall a bricklaying style characterized by courses in which every fourth brick is a header.

header a brick laid with its short end facing out.

rowlock a header laid on its narrow side.

running bond a bricklaying style characterized by overlapping courses of stretchers and no headers.

house construction 33

shiner a stretcher with its broad side facing out.

soldier a brick laid standing on end.

stacked bond a bricklaying style characterized by nonoverlapping courses of stretchers.

stretcher a brick laid lengthwise.

bridging small pieces of wood crossed between studs to add rigidity and to distribute load.

casement window a hinged window that swings open along one vertical edge.

casing the trim around a door or a window.

caulking sealing material used to waterproof cracks and joints, especially around doors and windows.

clapboard a long, beveled board used for siding.

collar beam a beam that connects rafters. Also known as a rafter tie.

conduit, electrical a pipe or tube through which wiring is run.

corbel a projection of wood or masonry to add structural support to a wall.