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Definition of "girder" []

  • A beam, as of steel, wood, or reinforced concrete, used as a main horizontal support in a building or bridge. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "girder" in a sentence
  • ""There it is!" she exclaims, pointing to a dark blob, perched incongruously halfway along the main girder supporting the rig's permanently burning gas flare."
  • "W.J. M. Rankine proved (_Applied M.chanics_, p. 370) that the necessary strength of a stiffening girder would be only one-seventh part of that of an independent girder of the same span as the bridge, suited to carry the same moving load (not including the dead weight of the girder which is supported by the chain)."
  • "It is the introduction of this rigid girder which is responsible for the descriptive generic term of "semi-rigid.""