Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The cascabel or knob at the rear end of a cannon: the common term in early artillery, as of the sixteenth century.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mil.), rare The cascabel, or hindmost knob, of a cannon.

Etymologies

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Wow. I thought cascabel was a specialized word--turns out it has a synonym.

    This paragraph is an eighteenth-century cannon-lover's dream.

    "The exactness of the coiled muzzle-lashing, made fast to the eye-bolt above the port-lid, the seizing of the mid-breeching to the pommelion, the neat arrangement of the sponge, handspike, powder-horn, priming-wire, bed, quoin, train-tackle, shot and all the rest told a knowing eye a great deal about the gun-crew..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days, 38

    March 20, 2008

  • Amazing. As though we might need a synonym for this word. ;-) I guess it was more useful back in the days of frequent cannon use.

    March 20, 2008

  • Why does this word remind me of grapefruit?

    March 20, 2008

  • Odd. It reminds me of a pommel horse in camouflage.

    March 21, 2008

  • Does pomme mean grapefruit in French?

    Oh dear. I think sionnach must be making a joke that I'm not getting. *wrings paws and worries she's turning into gangerh*

    ;)

    March 21, 2008

  • I think sionnach is referring to pamplemousse.

    March 21, 2008

  • That can't be a real word. Really?! *excited* I think of pamplemousse as sharing essentially the same meaning or usage as gehunteschpundt.

    March 21, 2008

  • I was indeed thinking of pamplemousse, though I don't understand why pommelion would create that association, as opposed to a simpler one with apples (pommes). I suppose it's the p-m-l combination that does it.

    Thanks, mollusque!

    I didn't know that bears could actually *wring* their paws. But maybe c_b was speaking figuratively.

    March 21, 2008

  • I was thinking of pomelo when sionnach made that comment. But you find the pom- root referring to lots of round things in Romance langauges:

    pom-pom, pomodoro, pomegranate, pommel, etc.

    from Latin pomum - fruit, apple.

    March 21, 2008

  • Perhaps the lion and the moose helped trigger the association.

    March 21, 2008

  • Uh oh. Who's going to make a list of P-M-L words? *not I*

    March 21, 2008

  • Pamphlet, papermill, pumpernickel...

    March 21, 2008

  • OK, fine. Here's a Public List for P-M-L words!

    March 21, 2008

  • See also cascabel.

    October 10, 2008