sb. Forms: α. 4–5 trestele, 4–6 -el, -ell(e, -ill(e, 5 -iel, -ul, 5–6 -yll(e, -il, -yl, 4– trestle; 4–6 tresselle, 6–8 -ell, 7 -il, -al, (tresle), 5–9 tressel, 7–9 tressle; (6 Sc. traisle, 7 threstle, 8 trassel). β. 5–6 trystell(e, 6 -el, tristell, -il, -ill(e, tristle, trys(s)elle, trisselle. γ. 5 trostyle, 6 -ell, trustyll, 7–8 trussell, 7–9 -el, (8 trusle), 8–9 trussle, 9 trustle. [ME. trestel, a. OF. trestel (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm., mod.F. tréteau) a transom, beam:—pop.L. *transtellum, dim. of transtrum beam: see -LE 2 and cf. TREST sb.2 Pop.L. *transtellum would normally have given OF. trastel, but cf. treste, TREST sb.2 from transtrum.]
1. A support for something, consisting of a short horizontal beam or bar with diverging legs, usually two at each end; esp. one of a pair or set used to support a board so as to form a table.
13[?]. Coer de L., 102. They sette tresteles, & layde a borde.
c. 1400. Brut, clxxxvii. 206. Þis Piers of Gauaston … went into þe Kyngus tresorie … and toke þe table of golde, wiþ þe tresteles of þe same, and meny oþere riche gewelles.
1495. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 196. Mete tables in the Captayns Caban and … Trystelles for the same.
1522. in Archæologia, XXV. 457. A tabill & the trostells.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. clvii. [cliii.] 434. These burgesses sette downe the lytter on two trestels.
1543. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 15. Payde for makynge of the tryselle … ij d.
1572. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 165. Tables and tressells.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, IV. xii. (Roxb.), 502/1. Then was the Body … Set on a Tressell between two crosses, and couered with a large purple veluett pall.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 3. Horses, or Trussels,… to lay the Poles … on whilst they are boring.
1743. in H. S. Wyndham, Ann. Cov. Gard. Theatre (1906), II. 312. A Mountebank’s stage and tressells.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 217. In Italian inns … the bedstead is usually four forms, like trussels, set together.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, Trussell, a stand for a barrel. Kent.
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, XVIII. 195. The proverbial obstinacy of the pig rather increases than diminishes when he is laid on the tressel for execution.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, v. An unfinished coffin on black tressels.
1861. Wright, Ess. Archæol., II. xiv. 41. The Anglo-Saxon table was formed merely by placing a board upon trestles at the time of eating.
† 2. A three-legged stool or seat; a tripod. Obs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 503/1. Trostyle, tristellus, Kylw. et Dicc. tripos, Comm.
1552. Huloet, Trestle, tripus,… whych hath thre fete.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. 151. These be the answers, of the Holy see, these be ye Oracles of the Apostolike trestle. Margin, Apollo among ye Heathen gaue … Prophecies at a threefooted boord or trestle.
1570. Levins, Manip., 126/28 A Tristil, tripes.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Trestle (tripus), a three footed-stool, or any thing with three feet, a trevet.
1658. in Phillips.
b. A three-legged frame or stand for a support; a tripod. Now dial.
1790. Roy in Phil. Trans., LXXX. 165. We made shift, by the help of a long beam, and a moveable trestle by way of fulcrum for it to rest upon, to get the instrument up to the top of its own proper scaffold. Ibid. (1795), LXXXV. 435. The plank and bar were supported on five of the tressels, or tripods, belonging to the Royal Society.
1828. Craven Gloss., Tressel, a frame to support a scaffold, made of three feet.
3. Her. A low stool or bench used as a bearing: usually represented with three legs.
1610. Guillem, Heraldry, IV. ix. (1611), 213. He beareth gules, a fesse Humet, or, betweene three trestles argent…. This charge … is of some … taken … for a Table.
1894. Parker’s Gloss. Her., Tressel, a three-legged frame to support a table, borne chiefly by branches of one family.
4. In various specific uses. † a. A support or rest for a harquebus or other early fire-arm (see REST sb.1 11 a): TREST sb.2 1 b. Obs. b. A framework consisting of upright (or more or less inclined) pieces with diagonal braces, used to support a bridge or other elevated structure. c, d. See quots. e. One of the timber props or shores used to support a ship while being built. † f. A stand or frame for candles or tapers burning in religious worship. Obs.
g. = TRESTLE-TREE (Century Dict.).
a. 1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 95. Trestelles for hakbusses.
b. 1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 438. [A bridge] 160 feet long and 22 feet wide, supported by two wooden trussels, and two stone pillars.
1811. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1838), VIII. 351. A certain quantity of timber for the construction of a pile engine and of a Trustle.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 183. The centres spanning the whole width of the arch were composed of eight ribs each, formed in one piece, resting upon the same number of solid wedges, supported by inclined tressels placed upon longitudinal bearers, firmly fixed to the offsets of the piers and abutments.
1900. Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U. S.), April, 135. There is not a difficult grade or an embankment or trestle of any importance between New York and Buffalo.
c. 1823. Nicholson, Pract. Build., iv. 231. Trussels, four-legged stools for ripping and cross-cutting timber upon.
1882. Young, Ev. Man Own Mech., § 517. A trestle, or sawing-stool.
d. 1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., 378. The horse or trestle consists of a strong wooden frame…. Upon the middle of this … two uprights and a strong cross beam, for supporting the thick plank upon which the skins are worked.
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts, III. 93. A high trussel is frequently used, across which the leather is thrown, after undergoing any of the processes.
e. 1860. Longf., Wayside Inn, I. Build. Long Serpent, xvi. Then they launched her from the tressels, In the ship-yard by the sea.
f. 1523. Will R. Broster (Somerset Ho.). ij s to make a Trisell to brenne at Masse.
1546. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 26. Payde for a trisselle and holy candelles.
5. transf. and fig.: esp. (pl.) applied to the legs.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., IV. iii. He lookes in that deepe ruffe, like a head in a platter Seru’d in by a short cloake vpon two tressils.
c. 1620. T. Robinson, Mary Magd., 232. Or rather cast a due-deuoted glaunce Vpon the marble tressels vnder plac’t: But then her douelike feete themselues aduance. Ibid., 1471. Happy wert thou to touch ye tressells bare Of thy beloued, heau’nly paramour.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., ccxciii. The Bishop wth his Colleague Arundel, Were the first Tressells vnto Henrie’s Throne.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 16. I must not cut off her … legs…, and set her upon Tressels.
6. attrib. and Comb.: trestle-bed, a portable or movable bed supported upon trestles, as used in a hospital tent, etc.; trestle-board, a board laid upon trestles to form a table; trestle-bridge, a bridge supported upon trestles or trestlework (see 4 b); † trestle-candle: cf. 4 f; trestle-post: cf. 4 b; trestle-table, a table made of a movable board or boards laid upon trestles; trestlework, a framework composed of a series of trestles (of wood or iron) fastened together, for supporting a bridge or viaduct, esp. on a railway.
1870. Disraeli, Lothair, lx. Princesses … might be seen by the *tressel beds.
1856. C. W. Moore (title), New Masonic *Trestle-Board, adapted to the work and lectures as practised in the Lodges … of Knights Templars in the United States of America.
1867. Brande & Cox, Dict. Sc., etc., s.v., Two or more [trestles] are used for carrying a bridge, called a *trestle bridge.
1889. G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, 62. A temporary trestle bridge was erected.
1559. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 90. For ij li. … of *tryssille candelle.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 74. He has … conducted the water to a very large wheel, in troughs, upon *trussle-posts 20 feet high.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Trestle-table.
1905. Macm. Mag., Nov., 4. A small white bell-tent,… at its door a long trestle-table was set out with a bench on either side.
1861. W. H. Russell, in Times, 10 July. The road led to a cypress swamp, over which the engines bustled … at a perilous rate along a high *trestlework.
Hence Trestle v. trans., to place upon trestles; Trestled a., provided with or supported upon trestles; Trestlewise adv., in the manner of a trestle (in quot., ? upon trestles); Trestling, a structure of trestles, trestlework.
1879. Daily News, 7 April, 3/3. Having disembarked and *‘tressled’ their boats, the two crews returned to Putney.
1885. B. Harte, Maruja, v. The black *tresselled bed.
1434. E. E. Wills (1882), 102. A litil tabel peynted *trestelwise.
1905. New-York Tribune, 31 March, 6/4. No less than forty miles of elevated work must be built above the water, not counting the trestlings between Key Largo and the mainland.
