1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tas-de-Charge

TAS-DE-CHARGE, a French term in architecture, for which there is no equivalent in English, given to the lower courses of a Gothic vault, which are laid in horizontal courses and bonded into the wall, forming a solid mass; they generally rise about one-third of the height of the vault, and as they project forwards they lessen the span to be vaulted over.