mortise

Etymology

From Middle English morteys, from Old French mortaise, from Arabic مُرْتَزّ (murtazz), from اِرْتَزَّ (irtazza).

noun

1. (woodworking) A hole that is made to receive a tenon so as to form a joint.
   If there is much gauging for the same size mortise and tenon to be done, and if a mortise gauge is not handy, a simple improvised gauge for the purpose can easily be made with two pieces of wood and four or five steel sprigs… 2016-09-06, A Little Book of Woodworking Joints - Including Dovetailing, Mortise-and-Tenon and Mitred Joints, 2nd edition (paperback), Read Books Limited
   A keyed mortise-and-tenon joint is constructed the same as a doweled mortise and tenon joint except that the tenon projects far enough through the mortise to admit the insertion of a tapering key which draws the mortised piece firmly against the shoulder of the tenon. 1918, Herman Frederick Rusch, Shop Work, Joinery-cabinet-making-carpentry, Chicago, Illinois, United States: University of Chicago Press, page 56
2. Stability; power of adhesion.

verb

1. (transitive, woodworking) To cut a mortise in.
   A keyed mortise-and-tenon joint is constructed the same as a doweled mortise and tenon joint except that the tenon projects far enough through the mortise to admit the insertion of a tapering key which draws the mortised piece firmly against the shoulder of the tenon. 1918, Herman Frederick Rusch, Shop Work, Joinery-cabinet-making-carpentry, Chicago, Illinois, United States: University of Chicago Press, page 56
2. (transitive, woodworking) To join by a mortise and tenon.
3. (typography) To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters; to kern.