The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gambrel \Gam"brel\, n. [OF. gambe, jambe leg, F. jambe. Cf. Cambrel, Chambrel, and see Gambol. n.]
The hind leg of a horse.
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A stick crooked like a horse's hind leg; -- used by butchers in suspending slaughtered animals.
Gambrel roof (Arch.), a curb roof having the same section in all parts, with a lower steeper slope and an upper and flatter one, so that each gable is pentagonal in form.
Wiktionary
n. A roof design having two slopes on the sides and gables in the ends.
WordNet
n. a gable roof with two slopes on each side and the lower slope being steeper [syn: gambrel]
Usage examples of "gambrel roof".
It was big and sturdy, with a gambrel roof dark overhead, and a wide doorway, big enough for a car or a wagon, open like a black mouth to the road.
And dogs barked as the yellow light of small-paned windows shone out at the farther turn, and the Pleiades twinkled across the open knoll where a great gambrel roof stood black against the dim west.
Most of it built before 1670, and the gambrel roof no later than 1730.
Wynand's house stood drawn on the paper--with Colonial porches, a gambrel roof, two massive chimneys, a few little pilasters, a few porthole windows.
Beyond a deep backyard, shingled to match the house and with windows flanked by white shutters, stands a small barn with a gambrel roof Because the property is at the extreme southern end of town it offers access to riding trails and the open hills.
Their cars and television trucks blocked traffic and outnumbered police vehicles three to one in front of a white Cape Cod with a gambrel roof that looked like it belonged in New England.
Her house was a field stone building of comfortable proportions with a gambrel roof and twin gables.