Definitions
GNU Webster's 1913
- A conical rifle bullet, with a cavity in its base plugged with a piece of iron, which, by the explosion of the charge, is driven farther in, expanding the sides to fit closely the grooves of the barrel.
Examples
“In the meantime I had received a very severe wound in the shoulder from a minie ball and my horse had been very badly shot, having one of his eyes knocked out.”
“Whatever his fate, whether he had taken a minie ball to his hinder parts or lit out for the western territories, he had left Ruby high and dry.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘minie ball’.
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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
Tweets
Looking for tweets for minie ball.
chained_bear I'm not sure what you mean by "resulting in ... suspect myth."
Also, Wikipedia (see link above) explains the origin of the name pretty decently (and has pictures). It is actually properly spelled Minié ball, after the inventor's surname. Oct 28, 2009
jojimyers Sometimes refered to as a "minnie ball" it was neither a "ball" nor of small caliber, a conical bullet and a rifle with "rifling" to impart spin to the bullet as it traveled down the gun barrel. Invented by the French it was used in the American Civil War, resulting in terrible injuries, and suspect myth. Oct 28, 2009