: any of the small timbers or metal beams ranged parallel from wall to wall in a structure to support a floor or ceiling
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J joist
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The cellar was filled to the floorboards above, and barrels hit the floor joists.—Laura Ness, Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2026 Mud tunnels, or shelter tubes, about the width of a straw, on the foundation, floor joists, and other parts of the house are signs of a colony.—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 6 Mar. 2026 The headquarters was mostly beams and joists, with no walls yet constructed.—Emily Brindley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Feb. 2026 Earlier this month, Aguillard got word from an architect that most of the joists that hold up the roof of the school gym in Aniak are broken.—Emily Schwing, ProPublica, 30 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for joist
Word History
Etymology
Middle English giste, joiste, from Anglo-French giste, from Vulgar Latin *jacitum, from Latin jacēre to lie — more at adjacent