jerkin-head Arch.
[Of uncertain origin: perh. for jerking-, from jerk v. (as if the slope were jerkily interrupted). Cf. kirkin-head, the earlier existence of which suggests that jerkin-head originated in some error.]
(See quots.)
| 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. (ed. 7) Gloss., Jerkin Head, the end of a roof not hipped down to the level of the opposite adjoining walls, the gable being carried higher than the level of those walls. Ibid., Shread Head, the same as Jerkin Head. 1868 Chambers' Encycl. V. 697 Jerkin-head, a form of roofing which is half-gable, half-hip. The gable generally goes as high as the ties of the couples, above which the roof is hipped off. |