mortar vessel

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Mortar \Mor"tar\, n. [OE. morter, AS. mort[=e]re, 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. [1913 Webster]

2.[F. mortier, fr. L. mortarium mortar (for trituarating).] (Mil.) A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs, carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45[deg], and even higher; -- so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described. [1913 Webster]

Mortar bed (Mil.), a framework of wood and iron, suitably hollowed out to receive the breech and trunnions of a mortar.

Mortar boat or Mortar vessel (Naut.), a boat strongly built and adapted to carrying a mortar or mortars for bombarding; a bomb ketch.

Mortar piece, a mortar. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Bomb \Bomb\, n. [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. ?.] [1913 Webster]

1.A great noise; a hollow sound. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

A pillar of iron . . . which if you had struck, would make . . . a great bomb in the chamber beneath.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]

2.(Mil.) A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell. [1913 Webster]

3.A bomb ketch. [1913 Webster]

Bomb chest (Mil.), a chest filled with bombs, or only with gunpowder, placed under ground, to cause destruction by its explosion.

Bomb ketch, Bomb vessel (Naut.), a small ketch or vessel, very strongly built, on which mortars are mounted to be used in naval bombardments; -- called also mortar vessel.

Bomb lance, a lance or harpoon with an explosive head, used in whale fishing.

Volcanic bomb, a mass of lava of a spherical or pear shape. "I noticed volcanic bombs." --Darwin. [1913 Webster]