render

REN-der

meaning in plain English

A thick coat of plaster or stucco put on the outside of brick or stone walls.

Imagine you render a wall like frosting—slathering a thick coat of plaster over brick.

for example

They had to wait a week for the workers to render the old house’s exterior walls smooth and weatherproof.

Imagine you’re patching a hole in a wall with a trowel full of wet, gooey stuff—when that stuff dries, it’s called render. Why do we do it? To seal the bricks from rain and wind, just like buttering bread keeps the sandwich from falling apart.