Corbel

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (v. t.) To furnish with a corbel or corbels; to support by a corbel; to make in the form of a corbel.

(2): (n.) A bracket supporting a superincumbent object, or receiving the spring of an arch. Corbels were employed largely in Gothic architecture.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Fr. corbeille, a basket), in Gothic architecture a projecting stone or timber to bear the superincumbent weight, usually of some architectural member of the structure, as the ribs or groins of an arch. Great variety is used in ornamenting the corbel, it representing sometimes an animal, a human being, a plant, or a group of moldings. (See Coping).