machicolation
an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath.
a projecting gallery or parapet with such openings.
Origin of machicolation
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use machicolation in a sentence
Its orchid-shaped machicolations have also survived, and even to-day they are noticeably beautiful.
Legends & Romances of Brittany | Lewis SpenceIt was protected by a strong wall from twenty to thirty feet high, having a parapet and machicolations, with twenty-four towers.
Joan of Arc | Lucy Foster MadisonHe peered into slits, glanced at the machicolations aloft, measured salients and re-entrants and dead-ground with his eyes.
The Tower of Oblivion | Oliver OnionsSmall watch-towers, corbelled at the summits upon false machicolations, are adjacent to the larger.
British Castles | Charles H. AshdownIts orchid machicolations are remarkable both for their beauty and their utility.
Rambles in Brittany | Francis Miltoun
British Dictionary definitions for machicolation
/ (məˌtʃɪkəʊˈleɪʃən) /
(esp in medieval castles) a projecting gallery or parapet supported on corbels having openings through which missiles could be dropped
any such opening
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse