▪ I. ashlar, n.
(ˈæʃlə(r))
Forms: 4 achiler, 4–5 as(s)cheler(e, 5–7 asheler, 6 aselar, aislar, achler, 7 axler, asler, 8 astler, 9 aisler (Sc. 7 eslar, islare, 8 estler, 9 ezlar), 6– ashler, 9 ashlar.
[a. OF. aiseler, aisselier, esselier:—L. axillāris, f. axilla, dim. of L. axis, assis, ‘axle,’ also ‘board, plank’ (cf. Fr. ais, It. asse). Aisselle retained in OF. both senses; in mod.F. they seem to be shared between aisseau (= OF. aissel) and aisselle. OF. aiseler, aisselier had senses pertaining to both; in Eng., senses 1–5 seem to arise out of the meaning ‘board, plank,’ 6 to be that which fills up the axilla, aisselle, ‘arm-pit’ or angle.]
1. A square hewn stone for building purposes or for pavement (? so called as resembling in appearance, or serving the same purpose as, a wooden beam); also used as a missile in defending fortresses. (Cf. Pr. cairo = lapis quadratus, in latter sense.)
| 1370 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. App. iv. 364 Foul þei fond..As blac as pich was I-spred Vppon þe Aschelers euene. a 1450 MS. Cott. Calig. A ii. 117 That kyllede of þe Cristen, and kepten þe walles With arowes, and arblaste, and asschelers manye. c 1450 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 438 Every asheler is xij. ynche thykke and xviij. ynches longe. c 1530 Ld. Dacres in Archæol. XVII. 203 Achlers redie hewen..that nighhand will fynyshe the said four towrs being bulwarks. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. 5 a (Jam.) A mason can nocht hew ane euin aislair without directioun of his rewill. 1611 Cotgr., Attendants, ashlers, binding stones. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 84 Alternated with courses of cream-coloured ashlars. |
b. collectively.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 175 Pavier ‘ex quadrato lapide’ which we call Ashler in Somersetshire. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 75 The Free-stone..if cut into oblong, or other sorts of squares, of a lesser bulk, they then call it Ashler. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §91 note, [Ashler] a term used by masons for stones prepared in the square for building with regular courses. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xiii. 269 It was a hard, compact, dark-coloured stone..and made excellent corner-stones and ashlar. |
c. In this sense often ashlar-stone.
| 1536 Bellendene Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 82 The pavement hes bene of aselar stanis. 1600 Holland Livy vi. iv. 219 The Capitoll was also built of squared ashler stone [saxo quadrato]. a 1758 Ramsay Poems (1800) I. 60 (Jam.) Houses biggit a' with estler stane. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) I. v. vii. 173 Ashlar stones of the Bastille continue thundering through the dusk. |
2. (Also ashlar-work): Masonry constructed of square hewn stones; opposed to rubble-work.
| 1398 Indent. Dormitory Durh. in Willis Archit. Nomencl. (1849) 25 Exterius de puro lapide vocato achiler plane inscisso, interius vero de fracto lapide vocato roghwall. 1426 Audelay Poems 78 Blak blood he se e-spred Apon the aschelere even. 1606 W. Birnie Blame Kirkburial xv, The Lords islare-work, the which is our edification. 1663 in Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 13 The stately crown bigged of curious eslar work. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. vii, As well argue to the ashler-work and iron stanchels of the Tolbooth. |
3. Similar masonry, usually in thin slabs, used as a facing to rubble or brick wall.
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 328 By ashlar is also meant the facing of squared stones on the front of a building. 1879 in Cassells Techn. Educ. I. 97 Ashlar work is a sort of facing to a wall built by one of the other methods or of bricks. |
4. (See quot.) ? only a loose use of 1 b.
| [Cf. 1677 in 1 b.] 1721 Bailey, Ashlar, Freestone as it comes out of the Quarry. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 328 Ashlar, a term applied to common or free-stones, as they come out of the quarry. |
5. attrib.
| 1681 Cotton Wond. Peake (ed. 4) 79 A level axler floor. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 34/2 Aisler causeway. 1851 Turner Dom. Archit. II. ii. 28 The masonry is rubble, with ashlar buttresses and quoins. 1879 E. Bartholomew in Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 314/2 The ashler causeway consists of hammer-dressed granite stones. |
6. ashlar-rafter, ashlar-piece = ashlaring.
| 1846 Parker Conc. Gloss. Archit. (1875) 227 Ashlar pieces are fixed to every one of the rafters in most mediæval roofs. 1876 Gwilt Archit. §2052 f, The nearly upright stud or ashlar rafter. |
▪ II. ashlar, v.
(ˈæʃlə(r))
Also ashler.
[f. ashlar n.]
trans. To face with ashlar; cf. ashlar n. 3.
| 1836 Mirror of Lit. XXVIII. 147/1 It has been generally done by ‘ashlering’ them..with thin blocks or slabs of the same stone. 1895 Hardy Jude v. vii, Sometimes setting the parapet of a town-hall, sometimes ashlaring an hotel at Sandbourne. |