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Mortar
//ˈmɔːtə(ɹ)// noun, verb
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks. uncountable
"The holy hearth! If any earthly and material thing, or rather a divine idea embodied in brick and mortar, might be supposed to possess the permanence of moral truth, it was this."
- 2 a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range wordnet
- 3 A hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle. countable
- 4 a bowl-shaped vessel in which substances can be ground and mixed with a pestle wordnet
- 5 A short, heavy, large-bore cannon designed for indirect fire at very steep trajectories. countable, historical
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- 6 used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall wordnet
- 7 A relatively lightweight, often portable indirect fire weapon which transmits recoil to a base plate and is designed to lob explosive shells at very steep trajectories. countable
- 8 In paper milling, a trough in which material is hammered. countable
Verb
- 1 To use mortar or plaster to join two things together. transitive
- 2 plaster with mortar wordnet
- 3 To pound in a mortar. transitive
- 4 To fire a mortar (weapon).
- 5 To attack (someone or something) using a mortar (weapon).
"The insurgents snuck up close and mortared the base last night."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English morter, from Old French mortier, from Latin mortārium. Doublet of mortarium.
Etymology 2
From Middle English morter, from Old French mortier, from Latin mortārium. Doublet of mortarium.
See also for "mortar"
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