Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEV'EL, n. [Fr. buveau. Qu. It. biecca livella, oblique level.]

1. Among masons, carpenters, joiners, &c., an instrument, or kind of square, one leg of which is frequently crooked, according to the sweep of an arch or vault. It is movable on a point or center, and so may be set to any angle. An angle that is not square is called a bevel angle, whether obtuse or acute. – Bailey. Johnson. Encyc.
2. A curve or inclination of a surface from a right line; as, the proper bevel of a piece of timber. – Encyc.