The Collaborative International Dictionary
Miter \Mi"ter\, Mitre \Mi"tre\, n. [F. mitre, fr. L. mitra headband, turban, Gr. ?.]
A covering for the head, worn on solemn occasions by bishops and other church dignitaries. It has been made in many forms, the present form being a lofty cap with two points or peaks.
--Fairholt.The surface forming the beveled end or edge of a piece where a miter joint is made; also, a joint formed or a junction effected by two beveled ends or edges; a miter joint.
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(Numis.) A sort of base money or coin.
Miter box (Carp. & Print.), an apparatus for guiding a handsaw at the proper angle in making a miter joint; esp., a wooden or metal trough with vertical kerfs in its upright sides, for guides.
Miter dovetail (Carp.), a kind of dovetail for a miter joint in which there is only one joint line visible, and that at the angle.
Miter gauge (Carp.), a gauge for determining the angle of a miter.
Miter joint, a joint formed by pieces matched and united upon a line bisecting the angle of junction, as by the beveled ends of two pieces of molding or brass rule, etc. The term is used especially when the pieces form a right angle, such as the edges of a window frame, and the edge of each piece at the point of junction is cut at a 45[deg] angle to its long direction. See Miter, 2.
Miter shell (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of marine univalve shells of the genus Mitra.
Miter square (Carp.), a bevel with an immovable arm at an angle of 45[deg], for striking lines on stuff to be mitered; also, a square with an arm adjustable to any angle.
Miter wheels, a pair of bevel gears, of equal diameter, adapted for working together, usually with their axes at right angles.
WordNet
n. hand tool for guiding handsaws in making crosscuts or miter joints [syn: mitre box]
Usage examples of "miter box".
Cam had taught him how to make the frames on an old miter box at the boatyard.
Just as a carpenter had a miter box and a dovetail jig and a clawhammer in his box.
He possessed hammers and screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers, saws and a miter box, a battery-powered drill with an array of bits, screws and nails, rope and wire, brackets of all kinds, and everything else a handyman might need, all of it purchased at Sears when he had realized that properly arranging and displaying each piece in his collection would require the construction of some clever supports and, in a couple of cases, thematic backdrops.