Clapboard

Oak clapboards lean-to attic Ephraim Hawley House
Clapboard siding stained dark brown
Captain William Smith House at Minute Man National Historical Park, a restored saltbox style house with unpainted clapboard siding

Clapboard (/ˈklæbərd/), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of those terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.

Contemporary use of clapboard/weatherboard
Contemporary use of clapboard/weatherboard and corrugated galvanised iron in Australia

Clapboard, in modern American usage, is a word for long, thin boards used to cover walls and (formerly) roofs of buildings.[1] Historically, it has also been called clawboard and cloboard.[2] In the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the term weatherboard is always used.[3][4]

An older meaning of "clapboard" is small split pieces of oak imported from Germany for use as barrel staves, and the name is a partial translation (from klappen, "to fit") of Middle Dutch klapholt and related to German Klappholz.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  2. ^ Whitney, William Dwight. "Clapboard" def. 1. The Century dictionary; an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language,. New York: The Century Co., 188991. Print.
  3. ^ "How to Choose the Right Weatherboard Material for Your Home". Houzz. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  4. ^ "Weatherboard, timber and sheet claddings". Consumer NZ. Retrieved 2018-12-07.