Embolon

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A blood clot or swelling, particularly one that blocks an artery; an embolus.
  2. 2
    A battering ram on a warship. historical

    "The chief warlike engines used in the Grecian ships, were the Embolon, the Catastromata, and the Delphin. […] The Embolon was a beak of wood fortified with brass, which projected from the lower part of the prow, so as to pierce the enemy's ships under water."

  3. 3
    A military formation, usually shaped like a wedge. historical

    "Xenophon, it is true, ſays, word for word, in his account of the battle of Mantinea, that "Epaminondas formed an embolon of infantry, which which he advanced to ſhock the enemy, as one galley does another with its beak." […] In this paſſage, I cannot think the word embolon means any more than a vast ſquadron of great depth; and what ſhould hinder our underſtanding it, when ſpoken of infantry, in the ſame ſenſe?"

  4. 4
    Anything wedge-shaped. archaic, rare

    "The machine represented in the frontispiece to this work, was invented for Mrs. Berkley to flog gentlemen upon, in the spring of 1828. […] There is a print in Mrs. Berkley's memoirs, representing a man upon it quite naked. A woman is sitting in a chair exactly under it, with her bosom, belly, and bush exposed: she is manualizing his embolon [plug], whilst Mrs. Berkley is birching his posteriors."

Example

More examples

"The chief warlike engines used in the Grecian ships, were the Embolon, the Catastromata, and the Delphin. […] The Embolon was a beak of wood fortified with brass, which projected from the lower part of the prow, so as to pierce the enemy's ships under water."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἔμβολον (émbolon, “wedge, plug”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.