mantelpiece

«mantelpiece» in Mova's school dictionary: the shelf above a fireplace, often with ornaments… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a mantelpiece, mantelpieces; also «mantel», «mantelshelf»)

meaning for a pupil

1) A mantelpiece is the shelf above a fireplace, often with ornaments, clocks, cards or photos on it. tree →

2) The frame around a fireplace. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and stories it is a cosy home detail: birthday cards, Christmas stockings and family photos often sit on the mantelpiece. In detective stories, a clue is often found "on the mantelpiece". Phrases: «on the mantelpiece», «above the mantelpiece».

examples

• Grandma keeps our school photos on the mantelpiece. tree →
• The clock on the mantelpiece struck six. tree →
• We hung our Christmas stockings from the mantelpiece. tree →
• The birthday cards were lined up along the mantelpiece. tree →
• The detective found a key hidden behind a vase on the mantelpiece. tree →
• A painting hung above the mantelpiece. tree →
• It revelled in its liberty, and presently flew up on to the mantelpiece and screamed away to its heart's content. tree →

note

Countable noun, one word. Spelling: mantEL (not mantle). American English often says «mantel». Safety: don't put things that can burn, or hang stockings, too close to a lit fire.

In the corpora

• The photo ended up on Gran's mantelpiece, and every time Maddie saw it she remembered that the shove came first.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «mantelpiece» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.