requerre

Requerre is a French noun with historical usage that designates tools and hardware associated with establishing or checking right angles. In carpentry and metalwork, a requerre traditionally referred to an L-shaped measuring instrument used to lay out, test, and transfer perpendicular lines. The modern, standard French term for this tool is équerre, and today requerre is largely archaic or regional, found mainly in older manuals and dialectal speech. Requerres of this sense are typically made of steel or cast metal; they may come as simple fixed-angle tools or as models that incorporate a ruler or protractor for more precise layouts.

Another sense of requerre (often in older or regional usage) designates an angle bracket or corner brace used to reinforce joints in frames, furniture, cabinetry, and construction. These brackets are mounted inside or outside corners with screws or nails and vary in size and hole patterns to suit load and material.

Historical context and usage: the term appears in historical French dictionaries and technical texts, but has largely been superseded by équerre in everyday language. regional varieties, including some Canadian French usage, may still retain requerre in references to hardware or legacy woodworking practices.

See also: équerre, carpenter’s square, angle bracket, measuring tools.