masoncraft

English

Etymology

mason +‎ -craft

Noun

masoncraft (countable and uncountable, plural masoncrafts)

1. The skills of a mason; expertise in building with stone, brick, etc.
   • 1939, Oxoniensia - Volumes 4-7, page 88:

     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.

   • 1979, Richard Morris, Cathedrals and Abbeys of England and Wales, page 105:

     Thus the second category of practica, which included carpentry and masoncraft, mirrored the theoretical science of mathematics.

   • 2000, Malcolm Hislop, Medieval Masons:

     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.

2. Masonry; the work or output of a mason.
   • 1896, Andrew Taylor, Ancient Towers and Doorways:

     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.

   • 1918, George Jeffery, A description of the historic monuments of Cyprus:

     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.

   • 1926, Oxfordshire Record Series - Volumes 8-9, page 40:

     For lightness and delicacy the masoncraft of Gloucester had no rivals at the time.

   • 1988, Frances Ya-sing Tsu, Landscape Design in Chinese Gardens, page 102:

     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.

   • 2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 191:

     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.