Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An opening in a thick wall for a door or window, especially one with sides angled so that the opening is larger on the inside of the wall than on the outside.
- n. A flared opening for a gun in a wall or parapet.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In architecture, the enlargement of the aperture of a door or window on the inside of the wall, designed to give more room or admit more light, or to provide a wider range for ballistic arms.
- n. In fortification, an opening in a wall or parapet through which guns are pointed and fired; the indent or crenelle of an embattlement. When the directrix (the line which bisects the sole) is perpendicular to the interior crest of the parapet, the embrasure is termed direct; when the directrix makes an acute angle with it, the embrasure is said to be oblique. The axis of an embrasure is that part of the directrix which lies within the boundaries of the sole. See
battlement . - n. An embrace.
- To furnish with embrasures, as a wall or fort: used chiefly in the past participle.
Wiktionary
- n. architecture, military Any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement.
- n. The slanting indentation in a wall for a door or window, such that the space is larger on the inside than the outside.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete An embrace.
- n. (Arch.) A splay of a door or window.
- n. (Fort.) An aperture with slant sides in a wall or parapet, through which cannon are pointed and discharged; a crenelle. See
Illust. of Casemate.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an opening (in a wall or ship or armored vehicle) for firing through
Etymologies
- From Middle French embrasure. (Wiktionary)
- French, from embraser, to widen an opening. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“May I suggest that you might want to use the term embrasure correctly?”
“Upon these, and along the walls, which in most castles were topped by a parapet and a kind of embrasure called crennels, the defenders of the castle were stationed during a siege, and from thence discharged arrows, darts, stones, and every kind of annoyance they could procure, upon their enemies.”
“Terrence and Aaron lolled into a cushioned embrasure of a window seat, sufficiently near to each other to nudge the points of their respective contentions as”
“Instead he sat in a cushioned window embrasure, moonlight throwing shadows beneath his dark eyes, glints of glimmering copper into his hair.”
“He lay back against the embrasure, his fist rolling the knotted muscles of his thigh.”
“Toryn hurried over to it up for him so that some light from the window embrasure fell upon the wall.”
“She sprang up like a spring rebounding and rushed to the embrasure, peering eagerly through the smoke, which clearing, showed the ruin of the gun crew.”
“Then he led Chapuys to the privacy of a window embrasure.”
“It was then, with a jolt of pure shock, that the truth registered: there was a man standing in the window embrasure.”
“Surprising him with her strength—and her ability to remember to keep an arm clamped over her breasts under what were clearly harrowing conditions—she shoved him into the embrasure and then crowded in behind him.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘embrasure’.
-
defense
shield, aegis, armor, cuirass, plastron, inured, reinforced, cataphract, proof, targus, buckler, shield bearer and 123 more...
-
Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
-
phrontistery - e
from phrontistery.info
eagre, earing, earwig, easement, eau-de-nil, ebberman, ebeneous, ?boulement, ebriection, ?brillade, ebrious, ebullioscope and 616 more...
-
art & art historical
chiaroscuro, architrave, column, capital, corinthian, dorice, entablature, frieze, ionic, sketch, abecedarian, abstraction and 124 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
Thresholds
we are all just passing through.
(boundaries, portals and liminal spaces/times)cockcrow, interface, thin line, portal, postern, littoral, portico, porch, stoop, strand, liminal, limen and 304 more...
-
Dash's list
Words of interest.
cacogen, fricatrice, destrier, swoon, multiverse, haggard, entranced, entheogen, passionate, ascendant, conciliator, bandylegged and 34 more...
-
Words with bite
Words that relate to the teeth, mouth or dentistry in general.
cingulum, furcation, rheostat, velum, mesiobuccal, distobuccal, mesiolingual, distolingual, incisal, occlusal, morsal, labial and 40 more...
-
Out
Words that connote making an exit, places to exit, means to an exit.
exit, way out, exeunt, outfall, opening, débouché, outlet, egress, vent, porthole, loophole, port and 49 more...
-
Stalking Darkness
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Stalking Darkness.
inquest, halyard, catamount, occlude, founder, more, grouse, grapple, water butt, antepenultimate, palimpsest, hob and 196 more...
-
Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 332 more...
-
Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
-
azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
-
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Words gathered while reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
refectory, soutane, ha-ha, jewelly, girt, centenary, collywobbles, coadjutor, catafalque, beeftea, pierhead, bedad and 235 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, E
excoriate, exoskeleton, enclave, endemic, erstwhile, entwine, elliptical, élan, earflaps, earlobe, earthen, earthenware and 238 more...
-
lee_d's Words
neologism, epicaricacy, chillax, arrears, locution, ressentiment, facticity, glib, escritoire, epicurian, alacrity, arbitrageur and 150 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for embrasure.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.