Definition of "tenon" [ten•on]

• A projection on the end of a piece of wood shaped for insertion into a mortise to make a joint. (noun)
• To provide with a tenon. (verb-transitive)
• To join with a tenon. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "A tusk tenon or shoulder tenon_, Fig. 267, is one in which the tenon proper is quite thin but is reinforced by a thicker shoulder called a "tusk.""
• "The projection is called the tenon, and the cavity the mortise."
• "A hole is bored lengthwise through the head to admit the tenon, which is fastened by a pin of hard wood, three-tenths of an inch in diameter, passing transversely through the head and tenon."