bressummer

English

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Alteration of breastsummer, from breast (“front or forward part”) +‎ summer (“beam”).

bressummer (plural bressummers)

(architecture) A large, horizontal supporting beam which bears the weight of a wall starting on a first or higher floor, particularly when exposed or used to support a jetty (timber-frame overhang construction).
- 1986, R. J. Brown, Timber-Framed Buildings of England, London: R. Hale, →ISBN, page 63:
  Once the floor joists were in position, the framing of the next storey could continue, with a bressummer laid along their ends.
- 2022 September 7, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway towns and a social revolution”, in RAIL, number 965, page 56, photo caption:
  East Lodge at Queen's Park, Crewe, dates from 1887-1888. Its bressummer inscription commemorates the Jubilee of Queen Victoria and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Grand Junction Railway.