Definition of "transom" []

• A horizontal crosspiece over a door or between a door and a window above it. (noun)
• A small hinged window above a door or another window. (noun)
• A horizontal dividing bar of wood or stone in a window. (noun)
• A lintel. (noun)
• Nautical Any of several transverse beams affixed to the sternpost of a wooden ship and forming part of the stern. (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.

• "The transom is available in heights of 15 or 20 inches, and total weight for either version is less than 250 pounds."
• "Getting over a reader's transom is hard, and your best ally in the task is a friend of the reader you're trying to woo: if you can get someone to read and love your book and then make it easy for her/him to email it to a Hugo voter, you're further along than if you'd posted a physical copy of the book right to the door of the reader."
• "In the first three lights below the transom is the Ecce Homo; in the centre three, Pilate washing his hands, the final moment in the trial."