mason

MAY-suhn/ˈmeɪsən/

4 meanings of mason

1
nouncountable
A person whose job is building with stone or brick.
A skilled mason repointed the crumbling brickwork on the front of the house.
Masons laid the foundation before the carpenters arrived to frame the walls.
Similarstonemason, bricklayer
2
nouncountable
A member of the fraternal order of Freemasons.
He became a mason in his twenties and later served as master of his lodge.
Several of the town's leading merchants were masons and met at the lodge on Thursday nights.
SimilarFreemason
3
nouncountable
A person who prepares stone so that it is ready for use in building.
In the yard beside the cathedral, a mason chiseled a block of limestone into a window arch.
The masons dressed every stone at the quarry before it was hauled to the site.
Similarstonemason, stonecutter
4
verbtransitive
To build stonework or brickwork around, under, in, or over something, or to construct something in masonry.
The builders masoned in the furnace, leaving only a small door for the fuel.
Before the spring rains, they plan to mason up the bank along the creek with fieldstone.
Similarwall, brick

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English masoun, machun, from Anglo-Norman machun, masson and Old French maçon, from Late Latin maciō (“carpenter, bricklayer”). The Latin word comes from Frankish *makjō (“maker, builder”), from *makōn (“to work, build, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, mix, make”). It was blended with Proto-West Germanic *mattjō (“cutter”), from Proto-Indo-European *met- (“to cut”).