Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Military materiel, such as weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and equipment.
- n. The branch of an armed force that procures, maintains, and issues weapons, ammunition, and combat vehicles.
- n. Cannon; artillery.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Cannon or great guns collectively, including mortars and howitzers; artillery. As a technical term, it designates all heavy pieces fired from carriages. Modern ordnance may be divided into two classes, smooth-bore and rifled. The former are all muzzle-loaders; the latter are subdivided into muzzle-loaders and breech-loaders. Most guns of modern construction are breech-loading rifled arms. Classified according to the material used, cannon are bronze, cast-iron, wrought-iron, steel, or mixed cast (wrought-iron and steel) guns; according to the method of construction, they are called
solid or built-up guns. The most modern type of heavy gun is an all-steel built-up breech-loading gun, with a Krupp or interrupted-screw fermeture. Formerly sometimes used in the plural. - n. A board composed of United States ordnance-officers distinguished for their attainments in the theory and practice of heavy ordnance, its construction and use, whose duty it is to conduct experiments, and test and report upon all ordnance subjects referred to it by the chief of ordnance. This board is designated by the Secretary of War, and is advisory to the chief of ordnance of the army.
Wiktionary
- n. military equipment, especially weapons and ammunition.
- n. artillery.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Heavy weapons of warfare; cannon, or great guns, mortars, and howitzers; artillery; sometimes, a general term for all weapons, ammunitiion, and appliances used in war.
WordNet 3.0
- n. military supplies
- n. large but transportable armament
Etymologies
- Middle English ordnaunce, variant of ordinaunce, order, military provision; see ordinance.
Examples
“Col. Hauck, who developed an expertise in ordnance, was a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars.”
“As in apparently the large amount of expended depleted uranium ordnance is having a very bad effect on the health of Afghanis.”
“The calibre, if you are using Western ordnance, is and has been for decades, 155mm, as can be seen from Reuter's "picture of the month".”
“Use of WP in built up civilian areas would have been deliberate given that alternative smoke-generating ordnance is available.”
“What will be different in this test-fire is the mesh pattern produced when the bullet passes through the window screen before ripping through the Harley jacket and buzz-sawing a swath through the chest of Mr. Jell-O, as he calls his ordnance-gelatin test dummies.”
Predator
“They must have ordnance -- that's the English word, isn't it --”
Freedoms Challenge
“Perhaps the opposite table will give a fair idea of the changes in English ordnance during the eighteenth century.”
Artillery Through the Ages A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in America
“The sprawling army ordnance community—known as the ordnance corps—was a network of arsenals, laboratories, and far-flung commands that together had evolved into an empire within the armed services, replete with its own biases and mores.”
“Nobody wanted to face the three-hour flight back to Kuwait with packages undelivered — it made the flight longer and burned fuel like crazy; and to face the crew that had worked like dogs to ready the aircraft, load the bombs, and paint love notes to Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar on the ordnance was a full-bore bummer.”
“And finally, working with friends and colleagues around the world to get more explosive ordnance demolition teams in so that we can get rid of the booby traps and unexploded ordnance, which is getting in the way the relief effort.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ordnance’.
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