buttress Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a support usually of stone or brick; supports the wall of a building
    buttressing.
  2. verb reinforce with a buttress
    • Buttress the church
  3. verb make stronger or defensible
    • buttress your thesis

WordNet

But"tress noun
Etymology
OE. butrasse, boterace, fr. F. bouter to push; cf. OF. bouteret (nom. sing. and acc. pl. bouterez) buttress. See Butt an end, and cf. Butteris.
Definitions
  1. (Arch.) A projecting mass of masonry, used for resisting the thrust of an arch, or for ornament and symmetry. ✍ When an external projection is used merely to stiffen a wall, it is a pier.
  2. Anything which supports or strengthens. "The ground pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity." South.
But"tress transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Buttressed (); present participle & verbal noun Buttressing
Definitions
  1. To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly.
    To set it upright again, and to prop and buttress it up for duration. Burke.

Webster 1913