Trēs'tle, n.
(trēs'l), n. [O. Fr. trestel, tresteau, N. Fr. trēteau, from D. driestal, a tripod, from drie, three, and stal, a place, stall.] [Written also tressel.]
- A movable frame or support for any thing, as scaffolding, consisting of three or four legs secured to a top-piece, and forming a sort of stool or horse, used by carpenters, masons, and other workmen; also, a kind of frame-work of strong posts or piles, and cross-beams, for supporting a bridge, the track of a railway, and the like.
- The frame of a table.
Trestle-board, a board used by architects, draughtsmen, and the like, for drawing designs upon;—so called because formerly supported by trestles.—Trestle-bridge, a bridge supported by trestles.—Trestle-trees (Naut.), two strong bars of timber, fixed horizontally on the opposite sides of the mast-head, to support the frame of the top. Totten.—Trestle-work, a viaduct, pier, or scaffold, resting on numerous posts or piles, which are usually connected by cross-beams.