artillery

nouncommon in dialogue

United Kingdom//ɑːˈtɪləɹi//
United States//ɑɹˈtɪləɹi//

Large projectile weapons, in modern usage usually large guns, but also rocket artillery.

noun

1
Large projectile weapons, in modern usage usually large guns, but also rocket artillery.
2
An army unit that uses such weapons, or a military formation using projectile weapons, such as archers.
3
Gunnery (design and manufacture of guns).
4
archaicWeapons, especially siege engines.
And Ionathan gaue his artillery vnto his ladde, and said vnto him, Goe, cary them to the citie.
The old walls […] were surely strong enough to keep out men without battering-rams, balistas, or artillery of any kind. [Footnote] Artillery is here used in its old English meaning for any kind of warlike engine. Cf. I Sam. XX. 40.
5
slangOne or more guns.

Etymology

From Middle English artillerie, from Old French artillerie (“collection of military engines, crossbows, lances etc.”), from artillier (“to equip, provide with contraptions”), alteration of atiller (“to arrange, adjust, put on clothes or, especially, pieces of armour”) (influenced by art), itself from Vulgar Latin *apticlō < **apticulō, from Latin aptō (“to make capable”).

Forms

plural: artilleries

Artie · A diminutive of the male given name Arthur, from the Celtic…artifact · An object made or shaped by human hand or labor.artificial · Man-made; made by humans; of artifice.

artillery · Large projectile weapons, in modern usage usually large guns, but also rocket artillery.

artist · A person who creates art.Artist · A surname.artistic · Having or revealing creative skill.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.