carpenter

Pluralcarpenters

Formscarpenters, carpentering, carpentered

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A skilled tradesperson who cuts and joins timber to put up buildings and other structures.

   We hired a carpenter to frame the new addition on the house.

   Her grandfather worked as a carpenter on housing projects across the state.

   Similarjoiner, woodworker

   Note

   The trade name began on the road, not on the building site. Latin carpentārius meant a wagon-maker, from carpentum, a two-wheeled carriage, a word taken from Gaulish carbantos. By Late Latin it named any worker in timber, and it reached English through Anglo-Norman, a cousin of French charpentier. The carriage meaning is that Latin carpentum surfacing again in English.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To work as a carpenter, cutting and joining timber; to build or make something by carpentry.

   Volunteers carpentered sturdy ramps for the community center entrance.

   After retiring, he still likes to carpenter on weekends.

   Similarbuild, construct

   Note

   The verb works with or without an object. It can name the activity itself or take the thing built as its object. Its forms are regular: carpenters, carpentering, carpentered. There is a rare synonym, carpent, but it will strike most readers as an error. The longer verb is the one to use.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A large bee that bores nesting tunnels into wood; a carpenter bee.

   A big black carpenter hovered near the deck, then disappeared into a round hole in the railing.

   Every spring, carpenters bore fresh tunnels into the shed's unpainted boards, leaving little piles of sawdust below.

   Note

   A clipping of carpenter bee, at home in writing on insects, where the plural can stand for the genus Xylocopa. Elliot Pinhey's Introduction to Insect Study in Africa (1968) calls them large, stout bees that make small tunnels in timber, each housing only a few individuals. Outside that context, write carpenter bee in full, since carpenter alone will be read as the tradesperson.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A senior rating responsible for all the woodwork aboard a ship; in the age of sail, a warrant officer in charge of the hull, masts, spars, and boats.

   The carpenter sounded the well each watch to check whether the ship was taking on water.

   Before the frigate left port, the carpenter inspected every mast and spar for rot.

   Note

   On a sailing ship the post was a warrant, not just a job. Beyond the hull, masts, spars and boats, the carpenter's most watched duty was sounding the well, checking the ship's pump well to learn whether she was making water. That is the sailor's phrase for leaking. The ship's carpenter therefore answered for her soundness as much as for her woodwork.

5. 5
   noundialectalBritishCanadacountable

   A woodlouse, a small land crustacean with a segmented shell, found under stones and rotting wood.

   When she lifted the flagstone, dozens of carpenters scuttled away into the damp soil.

   A single carpenter crept along the skirting board of the damp old cottage.

   Similarwoodlouse, slater

   Note

   A folk name, scattered across regional English rather than used in standard speech. A. D. Barber's 2015 study of woodlouse names in Devonshire finds the "carpenter" type there and notes it in Shropshire and Warwickshire. Newfoundland has carpenter or cafner. In general writing, say woodlouse. Carpenter will puzzle readers who do not share the dialect.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A horse-drawn carriage with two wheels.

   Their carpenter swayed on its two wheels as the mare trotted over the rough road.

   Visitors arrived at the fair in carpenters and larger four-wheeled coaches alike.

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