skewback

English

Etymology

skew +‎ back

Noun

skewback (plural skewbacks)

(architecture) The side of an arch; the course of masonry on the top of an abutment with a slope for the base of the arch to rest against.
- 1943 March and April, “A British Avalanche Shelter”, in Railway Magazine, page 80:
  The avalanche shelter itself consists of a series of heavily reinforced arches, supported by substantial piers on the cliff-side, and on skewbacks cut deep into the rock on the other.

References

“skewback”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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