culverin


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cul·ver·in

 (kŭl′vər-ĭn)
n.
1. An early, crudely made musket.
2. A long heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries.

[Middle English, from Old French coulevrine, from couleuvre, snake, from Latin colubra, feminine of coluber.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

culverin

(ˈkʌlvərɪn)
n
1. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) a long-range medium to heavy cannon used during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries
2. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) a medieval musket
[C15: from Old French coulevrine, from couleuvre, from Latin coluber serpent]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cul•ver•in

(ˈkʌl vər ɪn)

n.
1. a medieval form of musket.
2. a kind of heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries.
[1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French coulevrine < Latin colubrīna, feminine of colubrīnus colubrine]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.culverin - a heavy cannon with a long barrel used in the 16th and 17th centuriesculverin - a heavy cannon with a long barrel used in the 16th and 17th centuries
cannon - a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels
2.culverin - a medieval musket
musket - a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel; formerly used by infantrymen
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
With the yew bow and cloth-yard shaft at Cressy and Agincourt--with the brown bill and pike under the brave Lord Willoughby--with culverin and demi-culverin against Spaniards and Dutchmen--with hand-grenade and sabre, and musket and bayonet, under Rodney and St.
With the native sound judgment of the father of a heroine of romance, the von Berlichingen of that day shut his daughter up in his donjon keep, or his oubliette, or his culverin, or some such place, and resolved that she should stay there until she selected a husband from among her rich and noble lovers.
The Count Luigi raised money, like the rest, and one mild September morning, armed with battle-ax, portcullis and thundering culverin, he rode through the greaves and bucklers of his donjon-keep with as gallant a troop of Christian bandits as ever stepped in Italy.
The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured.
And being no stranger to the art of war, I gave him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea fights, ships sunk with a thousand men, twenty thousand killed on each side, dying groans, limbs flying in the air, smoke, noise, confusion, trampling to death under horses' feet, flight, pursuit, victory; fields strewed with carcases, left for food to dogs and wolves and birds of prey; plundering, stripping, ravishing, burning, and destroying.
Dantes noticed that the captain of The Young Amelia had, as he neared the land, mounted two small culverins, which, without making much noise, can throw a four ounce ball a thousand paces or so.
The culverin developed into a longer version known as a cannon, a word used interchangeably with gun in earlier times.
The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured.
Desperation was such that a 150 year-old, 18-pdr long gun (a culverin drake) that had had its trunnions and cascabel cut off to render it unserviceable, was mounted on a crude wooden carriage and pressed into service.