Definitions

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

  • noun A wainscoted wall or walls; paneling.
  • noun Material, such as wood, used for wainscoting.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Wainscot, or the material used for it.

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

  • noun The act or occupation of covering or lining with boards in panel.
  • noun The material used to wainscot a house, or the wainscot as a whole; panelwork.

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of wainscotting.
  • verb Alternative spelling of wainscotting.

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

  • noun a wainscoted wall (or wainscoted walls collectively)
  • noun wooden panels that can be used to line the walls of a room

Etymologies

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Examples

  • One hall leading to gates outside to long-distance buses heading west to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and north to the Pole was decorated in the Greek Renaissance style and furnished with Italian tapestries, Japanese lanterns, medieval armors, and carved-walnut wainscoting from a French château.

    Closing Time Joseph Heller 1994

  • It contains original details such as wainscoting, marble fireplaces and a grand marble and wrought-iron staircase.

    Grazer Goes To Market Grazer Goes To Market 2006

  • Engineered composite marble may be used as finished accents such as wainscoting, chair rails and flat panels for walls.

    The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:Today's Headlines 2009

  • I would like to give the tile a "wainscoting" look.

    RutlandHerald.com 2009

  • Outlets in the carpeted "wainscoting" right under the seats.

    doggdot.us 2008

  • They have thrown torches or firebrands into the hall; and it is all our friends can do to keep the flame from catching the wainscoting, which is old and dry.”

    Peveril of the Peak 1822

  • They have thrown torches or firebrands into the hall; and it is all our friends can do to keep the flame from catching the wainscoting, which is old and dry. "

    Peveril of the Peak Walter Scott 1801

  • Its walls are V-groove board wainscoting two-thirds of the way up to the ceiling.

    A riverfront retreat, built with the long view Nancy McKeon 2010

  • Lazarus stood just inside the door to the gatehouse, a ramshackle building empty save for a nest of mice whose droppings could be seen strewn across the dusty floors and piled in untidy heaps by the wainscoting.

    Earl of Durkness Alix Rickloff 2011

  • The quiet, sharp-eyed servants had long since been sent to their attic bedchambers for the night to be replaced by the quieter, sharp-eyed mice who rustled the walls and wainscoting.

    Earl of Durkness Alix Rickloff 2011

Comments

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  • Ratcatcher: Oh, I gather you've got a little rodental problem.

    Mrs Concrete: Oh, blimey. You'd think he was awake all the night, scrabbling down by the wainscoting.

    Ratcatcher: Um, that's an interesting word, isn't it?

    Mrs Concrete: What?

    Ratcatcher: Wainscoting ... Wainscoting ... Wainscoting ... sounds like a little Dorset village, doesn't it? Wainscoting.

    Cut to the village of Wains Cotting. A woman rushes out of a house.

    Woman: We've been mentioned on telly!

    July 31, 2008