Etymology:
apparently < French chanfrein, formerly also chamfrain , chanfrain , -frin , ‘a chanfering or a channel, furrow, hollow gutter, or streake in stone-worke, etc.’ (Cotgrave), < Old French chanfraindre to chamfer v.
1. A small groove, channel, gutter, furrow, such as may be cut in wood or stone. Obs.
2. The surface produced by bevelling off a square edge or corner equally on both sides; if made concave, it is called a hollow or concave chamfer. (OED)
"When the architect Norman Foster initially presented sketches for the Hearst Tower, the first skyscraper approved for construction in Manhattan after September 11th, one of the questions the building's prospective owners asked was: How are we going to clean those windows? Foster's proposal featured curtain walls of glass and stainless steel hung in a diagonal grid that met at each corner of the structure in a dramatic chamfer, a zigzag bevelled edge formed of four concave diamond shapes, each sixteen feet deep and eight stories high, known as 'bird's mouths' by the architects."
- Adam Higginbotham, "Life at the top: What a window washer sees", 4 February 2013 The New Yorker
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