Dictionary

masoncraft en · NOUN

Etymology

From mason + -craft.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The skills of a mason; expertise in building with stone, brick, etc.
   • The decay of masoncraft in the country generally is one of the things the lover of architecture most mourns, and this decay makes the preservation of the older work a matter of real national concern. 1939, Oxoniensia - Volumes 4-7, page 88:
   • Thus the second category of practica, which included carpentry and masoncraft, mirrored the theoretical science of mathematics. 1979, Richard Morris, Cathedrals and Abbeys of England and Wales, page 105:
   • Monastic chronicles, building contracts and accounts and other contemporary documents have revealed a good deal of information about the practice of masoncraft in the Middle Ages. 2000, Malcolm Hislop, Medieval Masons:
2. (countable, uncountable) Masonry; the work or output of a mason.
   • These two places of the same name are singular in possessing large churches of a masoncraft which seems peculiar to the Carpass, as far as Cyprus is concerned, a masoncraft evidently imitated from the buildings of the Latin Crusaders established in Syria during the XIIth century. 1918, George Jeffery, A description of the historic monuments of Cyprus:
   • The Silverman house was stoutly built, with snug masoncraft and tight joinery, but somehow the sudden storm pressed a vague draft through the dining room. 2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 191:
   • Masoncraft, Freeman well shows, may, combined with writings, be a powerful factor in historic evidence; for the mind of a nation, at successive eras of its existence, is inscribed in its architecture. 1896, Andrew Taylor, Ancient Towers and Doorways:
   • These refined masoncrafts are decorated with motifs or patterns that match the surrounding architectural molding of terraces, the bases of buildings, or the stone railings. 1988, Frances Ya-sing Tsu, Landscape Design in Chinese Gardens, page 102:
   • For lightness and delicacy the masoncraft of Gloucester had no rivals at the time. 1926, Oxfordshire Record Series - Volumes 8-9, page 40:

Forms