langrage
Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- noun A kind of shot formerly used at sea for tearing sails and rigging. It consisted of bolts, nails, and other pieces of iron fastened together or inclosed in a canister.
Examples
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Red-hot cannon-balls, and shrapnel, langrage, chain-shot, and Greek-fire — these and the like were all fair warfare, and France might use them freely.
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The ex-barkeeper was generous with these brown and glistening langrage-shot, and aimed volley after volley at our mouths.
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I do not want her sunk, if it can be helped, for some of those for whom we are seeking may be aboard her; therefore our endeavour must be to sweep her decks clear of soldiers; and in order to do that I will have every piece of ordnance, both great and small, loaded with bullets, bags of nails, and any langrage that you can most readily lay hands upon.
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This was doubtless unauthorized, for as the ship passed on, the Confederate, which proved to be the McRae, discharged a broadside of grape-shot and langrage, part of the latter being copper slugs, which were found on the Iroquois's decks in quantities after the action.
The Gulf and Inland Waters The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3.
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My gun was loaded with langrage, which was likely to prove far more effective than a single shot; for, though that could reach to a distance, it would not, like the pieces of iron, scatter death and destruction around.
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We had expended, at last, all our round-shot, and the greater part of our powder, and we had to load with bags of nails and any langrage we could find.
Note
The origin of the word 'langrage' is unknown.
