Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun [capitalized] An epic of Columbia, that is, America: used as the title of several poems, as one by J. L. Moore (1798), one, better known, by Joel Barlow (1808), and one in French (La Colombiade) by Madame de Boccage (1756).
- noun A heavy castiron smooth-bore cannon of a form introduced by Colonel George Bomford, U. S. A., and used in the war of 1812.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mil.) A form of seacoast cannon; a long, chambered gun designed for throwing shot or shells with heavy charges of powder, at high angles of elevation.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military, historical A form of
seacoast cannon ; a long, chamberedgun designed for launchingshot orshells with heavycharges ofpowder , at high angles ofelevation .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Standing on the pebbly shore, she bowed to the level of the boat's rail, and then aimed her as if an enemy directing a columbiad at Peleg's fish-flakes, eel-pots, and other articles, promising to let a cold shot drop in their midst.
The Knights of the White Shield Up-the-Ladder Club Series, Round One Play Edward A. Rand
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The armament remaining was found to consist of seven guns, including one eight-inch columbiad, two thirty-two-pounder iron guns, and four six-pounder iron guns.
Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro (North Carolina) expedition, December, 1862 W. W. [Editor] Howe
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A columbiad throwing a ball of one hundred and twenty pounds, sufficient to crack the strongest embrasures, was on its way from some unknown region.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 42, April, 1861 Various
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The four six-pounders were brought away; the columbiad and the thirty-twos, being too heavy to be removed, were spiked and the carriages burned.
Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro (North Carolina) expedition, December, 1862 W. W. [Editor] Howe
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The following instructions were given the engineer department: To have Shell Point Battery constructed for three guns instead of two; the mortar batteries at Fort Johnson to be converted into gun batteries for one heavy rifled gun, or 10-inch columbiad each; to strengthen the gorge wall of Fort Sumter by means of wet cotton bales filled in between with sand and kept moist by means of tubes or hose from upper turpline.
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The dismounted columbiad, however, was in a few days remounted.
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When vigorously worked, this gun (the ten-inch columbiad spoken of) kept these vessels at a greater distance, rendered their fire less accurate, and the iron-clads seemed to have considerable respect for its missiles.
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So that in fact one ten-inch columbiad was the only armament opposed to the fleet during the siege.
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On that day a monitor took up position for action within 800 yards of the fort, but, on being struck once or twice by the columbiad, withdrew two or three hundred yards, and the writer never knew them to engage the fort at closer range afterward.
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An admirable invention of Lieutenant-Colonel Yates for transferring guns on columbiad carriages was used with perfect success.
chained_bear commented on the word columbiad
"a gun of a new construction, lately cast at Faxall’s foundery on the Potomac. It carries a 30 pound ball, and differs from the English carronade. It will carry its ball 600 yards and pierce through a breastwork thicker than the sides of a ship of war, with the addition of 8 feet of earth and fascines." (citation in list description)
October 10, 2008