Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A cluster of small iron balls formerly used as a cannon charge.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A projectile discharged from a cannon, having much of the destructive spread of case-shot with somewhat of the range and penetrative force of solid shot. A round of grape-shot consists usually of nine cast-iron balls, in three tiers, arranged between parallel iron disks connected by a central iron pin. In quilted grape-shot the balls are placed on a circular iron stand round an upright iron spindle, and are secured by a stout canvas covering fastened to the bottom plate and quilted over the balls by marlins, the upper edge of the canvas being tied round the spindle.
Wiktionary
- n. A cluster, usually nine in number, of small iron balls, put together by means of cast-iron circular plates at top and bottom, with two rings, and a central connecting rod, in order to be used as a charge for a cannon. Formerly grapeshot were inclosed in canvas bags.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Mil.) A cluster, usually nine in number, of small iron balls, put together by means of cast-iron circular plates at top and bottom, with two rings, and a central connecting rod, in order to be used as a charge for a cannon. Formerly grapeshot were inclosed in canvas bags.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a cluster of small projectiles fired together from a cannon to produce a hail of shot
Etymologies
- grape + shot (Wiktionary)
- From its resemblance to a cluster of grapes. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There were three varieties of this: for long-range work (up to 600 yards) a smaller number of larger balls were contained in the tin (sometimes referred to as grapeshot); for closer ranges, more numerous but smaller projectiles were packed into the container (sometimes termed langridge); and a third type, called “bar shot,” consisted of a solid iron bar running down the center of the tin with musket balls packed around it.”
“Marchons! "and at every word grapeshot fell to the ground, for the Colonel, in spite of the suggestions of war, was peacefully engaged, being seated on the top of a pair of steps thinning out the grapes which hung from the roof.”
“It would be clean and it would have no magic bullet, only a magic spray of grapeshot (Al Gore called it buckshot) spread across all regions.”
The Huffington Post: Dar Williams: Blow Your Own Green Bubble
“Laurence Underhill/eyevine/Zuma Press Protesters threw rocks at lines of police who respond with tear gas and grapeshot on Mansour Street, next to the Interior Ministry building.”
“Yesterday I could not remember the correct word so used grapeshot.”
“In short, he got Borked at Leipzig. grapeshot says:”
“A lot of people hoped that basically a whiff of grapeshot would be enough to cause the whole government to collapse, Pollack says of the air campaign.”
USA Today: Five questions about dramatic move against Gadhafi
“Something crunched under my denim-ed knee as I checked the warrens for fresh round droppings, grapeshot poo that would tell me whether to bother with this hole or find a new burrow.”
“As they raked the stranded Alliance with continuous fire, Barry was struck in the shoulder by a heavy piece of iron grapeshot and had to be taken below for emergency surgery.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Revolutionary War's Other Naval Hero
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘grapeshot’.
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Not edible
Things that sound edible but are not (usually). See Liberty's To Eat, or Not to Eat? for more diet food.
cinnabar, dulcimer, belfries, potto, maltha, grapple, loam, rake, tort, pomade, buffalo chip, wedgie and 172 more...
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Grapes
sour grapes, grape, grapes, raisin, Nehi grape soda, Petit Verdot, Concord, Pinot Meunier, scuppernong, muscadine, Catawba, seedless and 112 more...
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• Fruitie
Fruit-related metaphors.
The list name is a tribute to gangerh's Numberie.pear shaped, upset the applecart, apple-pie order, apple-polisher, grapeshot, cut the melon, plum tired, through the grape..., nuttier than a pe..., apple-of-my-eye, just peachy, cracked the nut and 41 more...
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US Civil War
Words I've come across from the Civil War that sometimes are mentioned in its and other contexts.
grillage, swamp angel, rifled cannon, parrott, gun platform, quaker gun, grapeshot, minie ball, hush puppies, west point foundry, powder monkey, tara
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Just 'cause I like 'em, G
grocer, gabanergic, gabardine, gabbro, gaffe, gneiss, grapple, grosgrain, grommet, gratify, gossamer, goofy and 194 more...
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Gaw
Words for things both tangible and anthropic. I'm in the process of spinning off hardware into ute, and people into oofy.
cum-twang, naumachia, yngling, juggernaught, bliss ninny, iliac crest, moistened bint, slumlord, spondoolies, classy lady, charnel house, electrodoméstico and 334 more...
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Whaleworthy & Piratical Words
A list of favorite nautical words to be sprinkled liberally throughout speech for piratical or Melvillian effect.
batten down, back and fill, beamy, baulking, beckets, bilge, bold shore, boomjumper, breaker, larboard, abaft, ash breeze and 156 more...
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KaeZoo's Words
flingers, unhinged, driven, flanked, arboreal, venerable, endearing, iconoclastic, fletcher, competent, fireproof, cavernous and 215 more...
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End in -ot
Just what it says. Words that end in -ot.
wainscot, ascot, marmot, jot, ocelot, spot, blot, scot, lot, shot, dot, snot and 219 more...
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Thunderfoot's Words
lugubrious, salacious, vituperative, foist, foment, embolism, stygian, mellifluous, bildungsroman, shirk, crone, elide and 173 more...
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Historical Military Terms of Interest
Many (if not all) of these terms were selected from A pocket dictionary, for military officers, containing a definition of all the tactical terms now in use, with other matter belonging to the art ...
zig-zags, yeoman, xerxes, xeiff, xenophon, worm, watch-word, windage, wheeling, wad-hock, wadding, volley and 242 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for grapeshot.
chained_bear Also, just for fun, see grape riffles. Jan 26, 2011
chained_bear a.k.a. grape. See also canister. Mar 20, 2008