Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A relatively short cannon that delivers shells at a medium muzzle velocity, usually by a high trajectory.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A short piece of ordnance, usually having a hemispherical chamber for the powder narrower than the bore, specially designed for the horizontal firing of shells with small charges, and combining in some degree the accuracy of the cannon with the caliber of the mortar, but more portable than either.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A gun so short that the projectile, which was hollow, could be put in its place by hand; a kind of mortar.
- noun A short, light, largebore cannon, usually having a chamber of smaller diameter than the rest of the bore, and intended to throw large projectiles with comparatively small charges.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A cannon that combines certain characteristics of guns and mortars. The howitzer delivers
projectiles with medium velocities, either by low or hightrajectories . JP 1-02. - noun Normally a
cannon with a tube length of 20 to 30calibers ; however, the tube length can exceed 30 calibers and still be considered a howitzer when the high angle fire zoning solution permits range overlap between charges. JP 1-02. See alsogun ;mortar . - noun sports, rugby, ice hockey A powerfully hit
shot .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Using a Ra-Be neutron source surrounded by a paraffin howitzer, a modest beam of thermalized neutrons was available for experimentation and, during my period at the Heights, this was directed towards a search for the expected paramagnetic scattering from certain materials.
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A shot from the howitzer was to be the signal for the squadrons to charge.
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The brigadier general, a polite little man who has lectured at the staff college for twenty years and who knows the last word in the science of warfare, especially of artillery, called the howitzer battery by telephone.
Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Kelly Miller 1901
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The howitzer was the only wheeled carriage now remaining.
The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent Notices of the Gold Region from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources Brevet Col. J.C. Fremont 1851
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New design ladder should be created where four arms extend out to secure base like a spade on a self-propelled howitzer aka artillery tank.
WN.com - Articles related to The angry housewives setting Kashmir ablaze 2010
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New design ladder should be created where four arms extend out to secure base like a spade on a self-propelled howitzer aka artillery tank.
WN.com - Articles related to The angry housewives setting Kashmir ablaze 2010
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New design ladder should be created where four arms extend out to secure base like a spade on a self-propelled howitzer aka artillery tank.
WN.com - Articles related to The angry housewives setting Kashmir ablaze 2010
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During those forty-eight hours, the big howitzer, which is the type of the heavy German siege train -- the 225 mm. -- was brought up, and it is possible that a couple of the still larger Austrian pieces of 280 mm. (what we call in this country the 11-inch), which are constructed with flat treadles to their wheels to fire from mats laid on any reasonably hard surface (such as a roadway), had been brought up as well.
A General Sketch of the European War The First Phase Hilaire Belloc 1911
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VAUSE: Right now we're probably about 200 feet away from the nearest howitzer which is firing right now.
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On the heels of Blink's shot came the crack of Happy Jack's "howitzer" as he fired blindly toward the hoof-beats.
The Happy Family B. M. Bower 1905
chained_bear commented on the word howitzer
This term always sounded very modern to my ears—20th century at least—but it was used in the late 18th-early 19th centuries.
Edit: checked etymology in the OED: "A deriv. of prec.; the same suffix appears in Du. houwitser (in 1663 houvietser), Fr. obusier for earlier obus (see Hatz.-Darm.)." So I guess it was originally a seventeenth-century term.
October 9, 2008
luftmensch commented on the word howitzer
This word also sounds like the name of a sandwich.
March 26, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word howitzer
... a great sandwich...
March 26, 2009
reesetee commented on the word howitzer
A sandwich with hot sauce. :-)
March 26, 2009