Joint
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in anatomy, the union two segments of an animal body, through of any the intervention of a structure or structures different from both. The different some trade or business with The diff kinds of joints may be thus classified: view to individual profit; invested by 1. Synarthrosis: ( 1) Suture, ( 2) Schindylesis, ( 3) Gomphosis, ( 4) Amphiar- Arthrothrosis. 2. Diarthrosis: (1) dia, (2) Enarthrosis, (3) Ginglymus, and (4) Diarthrosis rotatorius. The terms symphysis, synchondrosis, syneurosis, syssarcosis, and meningosis, formerly applied to joints, are now discarded. În carpentry, a mode of securing together the meeting edges of wooden structures; the place where one piece of timber is united to another. The straight joint is where the edges make a buttjoint, being planed straight. Timbers and tenare generally joined by mortises ons, or by straps and bolts. The various kinds of joints are named according to their forms and uses, thus: ( 1) A but ting joint, in carpentry, is one in which the fibers of one piece are perpendicular to those of the other; in machinery, one in which the pieces meet at right angles. (2) A bevel joint, one in which the plane of the joint is parallel to the fibers of one piece and oblique to those of the other. (3) Dove-tail joint. (4) A longitudinal joint is one in which the common seam runs parallel with the fibers of both. (5) A miter joint, one formed by the meeting of matching pieces in a frame, the parts uniting on a line bisecting the angle, which is usually, but not (6) A square necessarily, one of 90°. (6) joint, one in which the plane of the joint is at right angles to the fibers of one piece, and parallel to those of the other. In geology, a natural fissure or line of parting traversing rocks in a straight and well-determined line, often at right angles to the planes of stratification. In masonry, the face-joints of vouse-jo soirs are those which appear on the face is beof the arch. The vertical joint The tween stones of the same course. The horizontal joint is between courses. coursing-joint is the joint between the courses of voussoirs. The heading-joint is that between two voussoirs in the same course. The flush-joint is filled up to the face by pointing with mortar. In plumbing, the sheets of sheet-metal roofing are joined by a drip-joint or a they are not flashing-joint in cases where -joint is soldered. A flush-joint or jump a butt joint covered with a plate on the inner side, called the butt plate. In a lap-joint the pieces overlap each other. slang The word is also applied in to an opium-smoking den; or any resort of bad repute.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's classification in 1921 was already being overtaken: the terms it declared "now discarded" — symphysis and synchondrosis — are standard vocabulary in anatomy today, where joints are usually sorted structurally into fibrous, cartilaginous and synovial rather than by the Greek series of synarthroses and diarthroses. The biggest change is surgical, not descriptive: John Charnley's low-friction total hip replacement, developed in Manchester in the early 1960s, turned a worn joint into a replaceable part, and hip and knee replacements are now among the most common elective operations in wealthy countries. The carpentry, masonry and geological senses in the entry hold up essentially unaltered — a miter joint and a rock joint are still exactly what Collier's describes. Only the slang has moved: "joint" as an opium den has faded, replaced by "the joint" for prison and, since roughly the 1930s, for a hand-rolled cannabis cigarette.
Written for this edition, 2026.