[f. BUTT v.2 + -MENT; cf. ABUTMENT and Fr. boutée ‘ouvrage qui soutient la poussée d’une voute.’]
1. Arch. The supporter of an arch; = ABUTMENT 3.
1624. Wotton, Archit. (1672), 31. The Supporters or Butments (as they are termed) of the said Arch.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 164. One of the main pillars or arch butments seems to tremble at the sound of a certain bell.
1806. T. Paine, Yellow Fever, Misc. Wks. II. 184. Arches joining each other lengthways, serve as butments to each other.
b. Butment cheeks: see quot.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Butment cheeks, the two solid sides of a mortise. The thickness of each cheek is usually equal to the thickness of the mortise.
2. An out-standing mass (of rock or masonry).
1865. E. Burritt, Walk to Land’s End, 168. It stood on the southern battlement or butment of the bluff.
3. A piece of ground abutting on a larger piece.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 158. The piece of Ground in the Yard … is a Butment from the rest of the Ground-plot.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The name butment is also given to little places taken out of the yard, or the ground-plot of an house, for butteries, sculleries, &c.
