Arch. Also 5 leyrn. [ad. F. lierne (Delorme, 16th c.), of doubtful etym.] In vaulting, a short rib that neither springs from an impost nor runs along the ridge, but connects the bosses and intersections of the principal ribs.
1842. Willis, in Trans. Instit. Brit. Architects, I. II. 31. The Liernes connect the ribs at other points [than the crowns] or may connect the crown of one rib with some intermediate point between the crown and springing of another rib. Ibid. The term Lierne is applied by De l’Orme ‘Inventions pour bien bastir’ to the short-ridge ribs which form a cross at the summit of the vault which he has given as an example.
1879. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., II. 212. Liernes are not placed at right angles to the surface of the vaulting, but in a vertical plane.
1886. Mrs. Flor. Caddy, Footsteps Jeanne D’Arc, 226. The roof branched with liernes, clustering into stars in its vaulting.
b. attrib. in † lierne-stud, -vault.
1466. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), III. 93. From euery beme a leyrn stood with .ij. braces into the beme and .ij. into the crownetree which shal lye vpon the said studdes.
1850. Parker, Gloss. Archit., s.v., Vaults in which such liernes are employed are termed lierne vaults.
1896. W. B. Wildman, Hist. Sherborne, iv. 20. A lierne vault of the same sort as that of the Nave Aisles.
