Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A cluster of small iron balls or other small projectiles, often contained in a canvas bag, that scatter when fired from a cannon, formerly used as an antipersonnel round.
  • noun Such balls or projectiles considered as a group.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun 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.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cluster of small projectiles fired together from a cannon to produce a hail of shot

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its resemblance to a cluster of grapes.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

grape +‎ shot

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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.

    THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

  • 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.

    THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966

  • 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.

    Sappers and Miners The Flood beneath the Sea George Manville Fenn 1870

  • "Armies still use what we could call grapeshot in tank rounds, which fire what is effectively ball bearings.

    unknown title 2008

  • Yesterday I could not remember the correct word so used grapeshot.

    The James Rifle 2009

  • Yesterday I could not remember the correct word so used grapeshot.

    The James Rifle 2009

  • 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.

    Dar Williams: Blow Your Own Green Bubble Dar Williams 2010

  • In short, he got Borked at Leipzig. grapeshot says:

    Matthew Yglesias » Kristol Complicates Napoleon Metaphors 2010

  • 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.

    Dar Williams: Blow Your Own Green Bubble Dar Williams 2010

  • 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.

    Clashes Escalate in Cairo 2012

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