Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Small missiles, especially grape, canister, fragments of iron, and the like, when fired, as upon an enemy at close quarters.
- To fire mitraille at.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Shot or bits of iron used sometimes in loading cannon.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military, historical
shot or bits ofiron used sometimes in loadingcannon
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Sortez de la paille les fusils, la mitraille, les grenades;
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Sortez de la paille les fusils, la mitraille, les grenades ;
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The mitraille vanished in shapelessness; the bombs plunged into it; bullets only succeeded in making holes in it; what was the use of cannonading chaos? and the regiments, accustomed to the fiercest visions of war, gazed with uneasy eyes on that species of redoubt, a wild beast in its boar-like bristling and a mountain by its enormous size.
Les Miserables 2008
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Not one escaped; the distance was too short, the aim too sure, the charge of _mitraille_ too close and heavy.
Adrift in the Ice-Fields Charles W. Hall
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The closely-packed _mitraille_ tore the icy crust into powder, fifty yards beyond the doomed bird, which settled, throbbing with a mortal tremor, upon the ice, shot through the head.
Adrift in the Ice-Fields Charles W. Hall
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Penchons-nous sur cette terre bouleversée par la mitraille où beaucoup d'entre eux dorment dans leurs vêtements ensanglantés.
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Près de joindre les Anglais, nous avons reçu un feu très vif de mitraille et de mousqueterie.
The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2) John Holland Rose 1898
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Then another battalion of young troops tried it, all together in a rush, shouting and yelling; but what will shouting do against a mitraille of grape?
The Great Shadow and Other Napoleonic Tales Arthur Conan Doyle 1894
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It was David who said, "Si on tirait à mitraille sur les artistes, on n'y tuerait pas un seul patriote!"
Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti Hall Caine 1892
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Though the yellowstone houses are pitted with the scourge of ball and mitraille, the streets are safe.
The Little Lady of Lagunitas A Franco-Californian Romance Richard Savage 1874
ry commented on the word mitraille
see also mitrailleuse
March 2, 2015
qms commented on the word mitraille
I find two pronunciations proposed for mitraille. It can be "mit try," which honors the French origin and is consistent with the more familiar mitrailleuse. Another source supports "my trail," a brutal Anglicization which might be no more than a desperate guess.
March 6, 2015
qms commented on the word mitraille
When gas in the outhouse builds high
Its contents become like mitraille.
If it will amuse,
Put match to a fuse:
Take cover and watch the shit fly.
March 6, 2015