throating

Pluralthroatings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of throat.

   The stonemason spent the afternoon throating each window sill before fitting them.

   Throating the underside of the cornice creates a channel that forces water to fall away from the wall.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. In "was throating" it is a participle, and standing alone it works as a noun naming the action. Spelled identically is the architectural drip, built from throat plus -ing. Of the verb's own senses, uttering in the throat is uncommon, and the British dialect use, mowing beans against the way they bend, is obsolete.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A drip or projecting dripstone on the underside of a sill or cornice that forces rainwater to fall clear of the wall below.

   Much like the underside lip of a flowerpot saucer, designed so water drips off the rim rather than creeping back underneath.

   The mason added a throating to the underside of each cornice to keep the facade dry.

   A well-formed throating directs rainwater away from the brickwork below.

   Similardrip, dripstone

   Note

   A builder's term for the small detail that keeps a wall clean. The throating may be a groove cut into the underside of a sill, cornice or string course, or a projecting dripstone. Either way, it breaks the path of rainwater so that it drops clear instead of creeping back across the masonry. It is countable (a throating, two throatings) and in this trade sense means the same as drip.

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