Trăn'sept, n.

n. [From Lat. trans, across, beyond, and septum, an inclosure. See SEPTUM.] (Arch.) Any part of a church that projects at right angles to the body (that is, the high central portion of either nave or choir), and is of equal, or nearly equal, height to this; in a cruciform church, one of the arms of the cross.

Transepts are always arranged in pairs; that is to say, the projection southward is always accompanied by a corresponding projection northward. . . . Hence the word transept is sometimes used in the singular to include both the north and south branches. Oxf. Gloss.