mortar
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (3)mortars
- a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short rangeSynonyms: howitzertrench mortarType of high-angle gun
- used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wallType of building materialMade of cement
- a bowl-shaped vessel in which substances can be ground and mixed with a pestleType of vessel
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. morter, AS. mortēre, L. mortarium: cf. F. mortier mortar. Cf. sense 2 (below), also 2d Mortar, Martel, Morter.
1. A strong vessel, commonly in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or rubbed with a pestle.
2. Military A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs, carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45°, and even higher; — so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described.
Mortar bed Military, a framework of wood and iron, suitably hollowed out to receive the breech and trunnions of a mortar. — Mortar boat or Mortar vessel Nautical, a boat strongly built and adapted to carrying a mortar or mortars for bombarding; a bomb ketch. — Mortar piece, a mortar. obsolete William Shakespeare
Origin: OE. mortier, F. mortier, L. mortarium mortar, a large basin or trough in which mortar is made, a mortar (in sense 1, above). See 1st Mortar.
Architecture A building material made by mixing lime, cement, or plaster of Paris, with sand, water, and sometimes other materials; — used in masonry for joining stones, bricks, etc., also for plastering, and in other ways.
Mortar bed, a shallow box or receptacle in which mortar is mixed.
To plaster or make fast with mortar.
Origin: F. mortier. See Mortar a vessel.
A chamber lamp or light. obsolete Geoffrey Chaucer
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54