dormer

/ˈdɔrmər/

/ˈdɔmə/

Other forms: dormers

Almost like a picture in a pop-up book, a dormer is a peaked extension, with a window, that rises up from the roof of a house. The word dormer often refers to the window itself.

A dormer, with roots in the French dormir (“to sleep”), often extends from an upstairs bedroom. The word has a sense of old-fashioned charm about it. Though you may occasionally still see a face peeking out from a dormer, the word brings to mind old stories such as the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Snow Queen”: “They each had a little dormer window, and one only had to step over the gutter to get from one house to the other.”

Definitions of dormer

1. noun

   a gabled extension built out from a sloping roof to accommodate a vertical window
   synonyms: dormer window

   type of:

   window

   a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air