embrasure
/ɪmˈbɹeɪʒə(ɹ)/ noun
Forms embrasures
- noun (architecture, military) Any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement; an opening in a wall or parapet through which ordnance can be fired.
- noun (figurative) Any small protected space.
- noun The slanting indentation in a wall for a door or window, such that the space is larger on the inside than the outside.
- noun (obsolete) An embrace.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French embrasure, from embras(er) + -ure, from Old French embrasure (“cut at a slant, make a groove or furrow”), from em- + braser (“cut at a slant”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun An embrace. [Obs.] "Our locked embrasures."" Shak.
- noun A splay of a door or window.
- noun An aperture with slant sides in a wall or parapet, through which cannon are pointed and discharged; a crenelle. See Illust. of Casemate.
Etymology [See Embrace.]
Etymology [F., fr. embraser, perh. equiv. to ébraser to widen an opening; of unknown origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “embrasure”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details