from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In carpentry, a beam at the upper ends of the rafters, below the ridge; a crown-plate.
Sorry, no etymologies found.
The crowd on the Common stop praying and sobbing for just as long as Jack Ketch stands there, elbows locked, for all the world like a carpenter heaving a ridge-beam into place.
From the top of the pole, which is secured to the top of the posts, the framework of the roof rises to a height of twenty-two feet, made, like the rest, of poles tied to a heavy and roughly-hewn ridge-beam.
At one end under the ridge-beam there is a large triangular aperture for the exit of smoke.
The roofs of the two larger were very steep -- sweeping down from the ridge-beam with a long concave curve, and extending at least four feet beyond the walls in front, so as to form the roofs of two piazzas.