Emily Dickinson Lexicon

gambrel (-s), n. [shortening of “gambrel-roof”; possibly OFr.]

Hipped roof; New England housetop that has support angles like the joint of a horse's hind-leg; [metaphor] limb; bodily appendage; [metonymy] heavenly body; [fig.] arch; dome; firmament; [fig.] tree; branch; bent piece of wood; curving overhead structure.