The horizontal framingmember at the top of a wall. 2. A rigid, planar, usually monolithicstructurethat disperses applied loads in a multidirectional pattern, with the loads generally following the shortest and stiffest routes to the supports. 3. A thin, flatsheetor piece of metal, especially one of uniform thickness. 4. Any of the huge movable segments into which the earth’s crust is divided. (Ching, 1995)
