English▸ noun a step-shaped recess cut along the edge or in the face of a piece of wood, typically forming a match to the edge or tongue of another piece:
[as modifier] a rabbet joint.
▸ verb
(rabbets, rabbeting, rabbeted)
[with object] make a rabbet in (a piece of wood). ▪ [with object] join or fix (a piece of wood) to another with a rabbet.
– ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French rabbat ‘abatement, recess’.