Obs. [ad. It. cavalletto ‘a stay, a prop, a tressell’ (Florio), dim. of cavallo horse. Cavalet was also in 16–17th c. French in sense of ‘a long hollow sticke, through which they vse in some places, to blow the fire, in stead of bellowes’ (Cotgr.). The native Fr. form of the word is chevalet.] (See quot.)
1662. Merret, trans. Neri’s Art of Glass, 243. [In an annealing furnace] there’s a round hole … through which the flame and heat passeth into the tower; this hole is call’d Occhio or Lumella, having an Iron ring encircling it call’d the Cavalet or Crown. Ibid., xvi. Neer the occhio or the cavalet.
