cantilever

Meanings

Noun

• A beam anchored at one end and projecting into space, such as a long bracket projecting from a wall to support a balcony.
• A beam anchored at one end and used as a lever within a microelectromechanical system.
• A technique, similar to the spread eagle, in which the skater travels along a deep edge with knees bent and bends their back backwards, parallel to the ice.

Verb

• To project (something) in the manner of or by means of a cantilever.

Origin

• First attested in the 1660s, probably from cant + lever, but the earliest form (c. 1610) was cantlapper. First element may also be Spanish can ("dog"), an architect's term for an end of timber jutting out of a wall, on which beams rested.