Also 4 ? corbyal, 5–7 corble, 5–9 corbell, 6 corbal, 7 -il(l. [a. OF. corbel, now corbeau:—late L. corvell-um (nom. -us), dim. of corvus raven.
The architectural application of the term began in Fr., in which there are other senses transferred from that of raven or raven’s beak. Hatzfeld, Dict. Général, says that the architectural corbel was originally cut slantwise (taillé en biseau), so that its profile would be beak-like. (The assumption in some English dictionaries that corbel is to be identified with F. corbeille a basket, is entirely erroneous.)]
† 1. A raven. Corbel’s fee: part of a deer taken in hunting, left for the ravens; cf. CORBIN-BONE, RAVEN-BONE. Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 456. He watz colored as þe cole, corbyal vntrwe.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1355. Þe corbeles fee þay kest in a greue.
2. Arch. A projection of stone, brick, timber, iron, or other constructional material, jutting out from (not merely attached to) the face of a wall, to support a superincumbent weight.
As defined by the French architects, a corbel has parallel sides perpendicular to the surface of the wall, and must project farther than its own height. (Cf. CONSOLE.)
Some English writers use the term more loosely, so as to include e.g., the tapering projection sustaining the ribs of a vault called by the French culot or cul de lampe, and specially excluded by Viollet-le-Duc and Bosc from their definition of corbeau.
In English, the term appears to have been purely technical, until caught up by Sir Walter Scott; his ‘corbels carved grotesque and grim’ have taken hold of the popular fancy, and associated the word with the notion of grotesque ornamentation; but a corbel is not an ornament, nor does ornamentation enter into its essential character.
a. 1400[?]. in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 138. Yf they bee affixed wt morter or lyme … as forneis, leedis, caudorns, chemyneis, corbels, pauemettis, or such other.
[1419. Liber Albus (Rolls), I. 326. De Corbellis et Trabibus.]
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 92. Corbell of a roffe, tigillus.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 304. To Holbeke for makyng of the corble of the gret led iiij.d.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, II. ix. [viii.] 46. Round all about quhar the jonyngis war worn, Redy to fal, and corbalis all to torne.
1570. Levins, Manip., 55. A corbel, post, mutulus.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne pierre qu’on appelle Corbeau sortant de la muraille … a corbell, a stone set out of a wall to beare weight on.
1617. Minsheu, Ductor, A Corbell, Corbet, or Corbill in masonrie, is a iutting out like a bragget or shouldering peece in timber-worke, à [F.] Corbeau, i. Lat. corvus.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, II. ix. The corbels were carved grotesque and grim.
1837. Howitt, Rur. Life, VI. xvi. (1862), 584. The massy font, the grim, grotesque human heads for corbels.
1839. Yeowell, Anc. Brit. Ch., xii. (1847), 132. Two human heads on the corbels of the arch.
1849. Parker, Goth. Archit. (1861), 243. Corbel, a projecting stone to carry a weight, usually carved.
1862. Rickman, Goth. Archit., 206. It [the dripstone] is in general narrow, and supported by a corbel, either of a head or a flower.
1862. Macm. Mag., April, 531/1. On massive corbels, projecting from the fronts of the piers, there are placed the statues of the great men.
1881. Mechanic, § 736. Brackets, or corbels as they are sometimes called, are often taken advantage of to enrich the building … by ornamenting them with carving or sculptured work.
b. A short timber laid upon a wall, pier, or other bearer, longitudinally under a beam or girder, to shorten its unsupported span and give a better bearing upon the wall or pier. Also corbel-block.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 159. Corbel, A piece of Timber set under another piece of Timber, to discharge its Bearing.
1820. Fredgold, Carpentry (1853), 187. A tie-beam plate … placed under the tie-beam, forming thus a corbel.
1873. Whipple, Bridge Building, 292. A small bolster, or corbel block, under the chord at the end, affords some protection at the weak point in the chord.
¶ Erroneously alleged in many dictionaries to be ‘used by some architects’ for ‘A niche or hollow in a wall, to contain a statue, bust, etc.’ An entirely baseless statement, taken over from CORBET.
1695. Kennett, Par. Antiq., Gloss. s.v. Corbet-Stones.
1706. in Phillips (Kersey).
1727–51. in Chambers, Cycl., s.v.; thence in Johnson and modern Dicts.; also c. 1800 A. J. Cook, New Builder’s Dict.
1835. P. Nicholson, Arch. Dict., I. 291.
¶ Misused for F. corbeille: see CORBEIL.
In Cook and Nicholson as above.
3. Comb., as corbel-block: see 2 b.; corbel-head, a head carved on a corbel; corbel-piece = CORBEL; corbel-step, a conjectural substitute for CORBIE-STEP; corbel-stone, a stone forming a corbel; corbel-table, a projecting course resting on a series of corbels; corbel-tabling, corbel-tables collectively.
1848. Hadfield, Eccl. Archit. Eng. 11. Figs. 6 and 7, represent the side and front face of a *corbel-head.
1862. Rickman, Goth. Archit., 289. In a few instances a return is used instead of the common corbel-head.
1850. T. Inkersley, Rom. & Pointed Archit. France, 338. Projecting canopies corresponding to the *corbel-pedistals below.
1819. P. Nicholson, Arch. Dict., I. 291. *Corbel-Steps, those steps to be observed in the gables of some old buildings.
1885. E. Eggleston, in Century Mag., XXIX. 876/1. The top of the gable wall was notched into corbel steps.
1425. in Kennett, Par. Antiq., II. 254. Aptanti et facienti xviii *corbel-stonys ponendis in prædicto muro.
1628. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 298. Felleting the portchis with lime, and putting in a corble ston.
1866. R. Chambers, Ess., Ser. II. 110. On the lowest corbel-stone … my eye … detected the date 1591.
1447–8. Will Hen. VI., in Willis & Clark, Archit. Hist. Camb., I. 369. In height cxx fete vnto the *corbel table.
1849. Freeman, Archit., 179. The eaves … rest commonly on small arcades or corbel-tables without shafts.
1862. Rickman, Goth. Archit., 442. A row of corbels carrying the projecting eaves of the roof is called a corbel-table.
1848. B. Webb, Continental Ecclesiol., 573. Chigiogna has a modernized church, but retaining some *corbel-tabling.
1879. Sir G. G. Scott, Lect. Archit., II. 131. The windows of the triforium gallery, with the corbel tabling over them, still remain.
