Masonry and Carpentry. [Origin uncertain; perh. from jog = JAG, a projection.] A joint at the meeting of two adjacent pieces of stone or timber, so constructed as to produce a pressure transverse to that by which they are held together, and thus to prevent them from sliding on one another; a notch in one piece, or a corresponding projection in the other, or a small piece let in between both, for this purpose.
1703. [see b].
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 240. When a smaller piece of stone, of any shape, is let in between two larger stones, partly into one, and partly into the other, so as to prevent their shifting place with respect to each other, those pieces of stone are termed Joggles.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 128. Joggles are the points at the meeting of struts, king-posts, queen-posts, and principal rafters.
1845. Parker, Gloss. Archit., I. 218. Almost every sort of jointing, in which one piece of stone is let or fitted into another, is called a joggle: what a carpenter would call a rebate is also a joggle in stone.
1847. Smeaton, Builder’s Man., 110. The method of securing the joints of masonry by means of joggles … consists in sinking a cavity in the two pieces in such a manner as to make them correspond with each other, and inserting in that cavity a piece of metal, stone, or even wood, so that any lateral thrust may not be able to separate them.
1869. Sir E. J. Reed, Shipbuild., xx. 456. The joggles for the continuous longitudinal angle-irons are cut out.
b. Comb., as joggle-beam, -joint, -piece, -post, -truss, -work (see quots.)
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 122. Crown-post … is also call’d a King-piece, or Joggle-piece.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 225. Joggle-piece, a truss-post, with shoulders and sockets for abutting and fixing the lower ends of the struts.
1858. Skyring’s Builders’ Prices (ed. 48), 88. Joggle joints to 3 inch landings in cement.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Joggle-beam,… a built beam, the parts of which are joggled together…. Joggle-work,… work in which the courses are secured by joggles … so as to prevent their slipping on each other.
