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[Also corbell, corbil, corbill (cf. corbeil), ML. * corbellus, m., corbella, f. (also corbulus, m.), dim. of L. corbis, a basket: see corb1, corb2, corbeil. Cf. cor bet.] 1. In arch., a piece of stone, wood, or iron IMG:content-1289.jpg:[merged small][graphic] IMG:content-1290.jpg:[graphic] 2 Corbels. 1, from palace of St. Louis, Paris, 13th century; 2, from church of Saint-Gilles-lezArles, France, 12th century. projecting from the vertical face of a wall to support some su- per incumbent object. Corbels are of great variety in form, and are ornamented in many ways. They are much used in medieval architecture, forming supports for the beams of floors and of roofs, the machicolations of fortre es, the labels of doors and windows, etc. The corbells were carved grotesque and grim. Scott , L. of L. M., ii. 9. From the grinning corbels that support the balconies hang tufts of gem-bright ferns and glowing clove-pinks. J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 199. 2. The vase or drum of the Corinthian column: so called from its resemblance to a basket.-3. In entom., the truncated oval tip of the tibia, when, as in many Rhynchophora, the insertion of the tarsus is a little above the tip on the inner side. The corbel is fringed with stiff hairs, and takes various forms, which are important characters in cla ification. It is said to be open when it is broken on the inner corbel side by the articular cavity of the tarsus; closed, when the cavity does not attain it and the oval margin is complete; caver nose, when the external margin is produced and curved over the corbel, like a roof. corbell (kôr'bel), v. t.; pret. and pp. corbeled or corbelled, ppr. corbeling or corbelling. [