Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of the wood, steel, or concrete beams set parallel from wall to wall or across or abutting girders to support a floor or ceiling.
  • transitive verb To construct with joists.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In building, one of the pieces of timber to which the boards of a floor or the laths of a ceiling are nailed, and which themselves rest on the walls or on girders, and sometimes on both. Joists are laid horizontally in parallel equidistant rows.
  • To fit or furnish with joists.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To fit or furnish with joists.
  • noun (Arch.) A piece of timber laid horizontally, or nearly so, to which the planks of the floor, or the laths or furring strips of a ceiling, are nailed; -- called, according to its position or use, binding joist, bridging joist, ceiling joist, trimming joist, etc. See Illust. of Double-framed floor, under double, a.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A piece of timber laid horizontally, or nearly so, to which the planks of the floor, or the laths or furring strips of a ceiling, are nailed. Called, according to its position or use, binding joist, bridging joist, ceiling joist, trimming joist, etc.
  • verb transitive To fit or furnish with joists.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun beam used to support floors or roofs

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English giste, joiste, from Old French giste, from feminine past participle of gesir, to lie, lie down, from Latin iacēre; see yē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French giste, feminine of gist, the past participle of gesir ("to lie down").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word joist.

Examples

  • A few of the other most common defects that I find are missing nails in joist hangers (brackets that support the floor structure), missing flashing at the rim (metal that keeps water from leaking in to the house), and improper load transfers.

    Reuben's Home Inspection Blog - Part 2 2009

  • (I recommend digging a earth around where a joist is to be hammered in initial to loosen it) 11.)

    Screwdriver Cordless YouTube Bosch GSR 10.8 V-LI Cordless ... admin 2009

  • (I recommend digging a earth around where a joist is to be hammered in initial to loosen it) 11.)

    Archive 2009-12-01 admin 2009

  • The saloon was made of sail cloth, not exactly in the form of a tent, for a slight frame was visible of a square order, and to the joist was the cloth tacked.

    The Gold Hunters' Adventures Or, Life in Australia William Henry Thomes 1859

  • The length of this chain, the breadth and thickness of the joist, its height from the floor, and the circlet of chain on the neck, were accurately measured; and it was thus shown that the chain unoccupied by the circlet and the joist was a foot and a half longer than the space between the shoulders of the man and the joist above, or to that extent the chain hung loose above him; that the circlet (which was fastened so as to prevent its contraction) rested on the shoulders and breast, the chain being sufficiently drawn only to prevent being slipped over his head, and that there was no other place in the room to which he could be fastened except to one of the joists above.

    Dred; A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. In Two Volumes. Vol. II 1856

  • 2 A joist is a support beam used in both floor and roof systems to support the decking material usually plywood over which the finished floor or roof is laid.

    Managing New Product and Process Development Kim B. Clark 1993

  • According to my informant, a 'joist' is a horizontal structure in a floor or ceiling; a vertical structure in a wall is called a 'stud.'

    ScrippsNews 2009

  • The nail was touching a metal conduit that ran along the joist.

    Electrical question jackwilliambell 2010

  • It was grounding out through the conduit with enough amperage to scorch the wooden joist.

    Electrical question jackwilliambell 2010

  • This metal wire was attached at one end to the metal framework of the suspended ceiling and to a nail in the joist at the other.

    Electrical question jackwilliambell 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • In Atlantic Canada the common pronunciation of the plural is not "joists" but "joyces". To say it otherwise betrays you as an amateur.

    February 16, 2011

  • Means: Smaller elements which support slab and are expanded between wall-wall, wall-beam, beam-beam. See girder

    March 20, 2013