Also 4 carpentarie. [a. ONF. carpenterie = F. charpenterie (= Pr. carpentaria, Sp. carpinteria):—L. carpentāria (sc. fabrica) carriage-maker’s workshop: cf. -RY.]
1. The trade or art of a carpenter; the art of cutting, working and joining timber into structures.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 178. Tooles of carpentrie.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. xxxv. 33. Werkis of carpentarye.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxx. 144. Two connyng men maisters in carpentre.
1586. Ferne, Blaz. Gentrie, 72. Carpentarie … dealeth with wood.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 117. It had been more proper for me in these Exercises to have introduced Carpentry before Joinery.
1836. Emerson, Nature, Spirit, Wks. (Bohn), II. 166. Idealism is a hypothesis to account for nature by other principles than those of carpentry and chemistry.
1873. Roorkee, Civil Engineer., I. iii. § 241. Carpentry is the art of combining pieces of Timber for the support of any considerable weight or pressure.
2. Timber-work constructed by the carpenter; ‘an assemblage of pieces of timber connected by framing, or letting them into each other, as are the pieces of a roof, floor, centre, etc.’ (Gwilt).
1555. Fardle Facions, I. iv. 46. The chiefe citie … stondeth not by building of masonrie, & carpentrie as ours.
1616. Markham, Countr. Farm, 333. Borne vp with carpentrie or frames of timber.
1770. Franklin, Lett., Wks. 1840, VI. 335. The carpentry of the roof … is sheeted or covered with deals.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VII. iii. Solid well-painted carpentry.
3. attrib.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 832. Carpentry Wood … brought here from Lower Saxony.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 542. The inward carpentry-work.
