Word of the day: transom

The word of the day is transom:

1. a crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it.
2. Also called transom light, transom window. a window above such a crosspiece.
3. a crossbar of wood or stone, dividing a window horizontally.
4. a window so divided.
5. Nautical.
   1. a flat termination to a stern, above the water line.
   2. framework running athwartships in way of the sternpost of a steel or iron vessel, used as a support for the frames of the counter.
6. Artillery. a metal piece connecting the sidepieces of the tail or the cheeks of a gun carriage.

1388, transeyn "crossbeam spanning an opening, lintel," probably by dissimilation from L. transtrum "crossbeam" (especially one spanning an opening), from trans- "across" + instrumental suffix -trum. Meaning "small window over a door or other window" is first recorded 1844.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/transom)

"De Long's cutter was twenty feet, four inches from her bow to her transom stern, with a breadth of six feet at her widest point."

 - Hampton Sides, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette