▪ I. mortar, n.1
(ˈmɔːtə(r))
Forms: 1, 4–6 mortere, 3–8 morter, 4–5 mortyer, (5 moorter, morteer, -ier, 6 mortre, 7 mortore, -ure), 5–6 mortare, 6– mortar.
[In sense 1 perh. partly repr. OE. mortere masc., a. L. mortārium, of obscure origin, whence also MLG. mortêr, mottêr, morten, OHG. morsâri, morsali (perh. affected by popular etymology, as if f. Teut. mors- to crush), also without sound-shifting mortâri (MHG. morsære, morsel, mod.G. mörser, mörsel), OSw. mortare (mod.Sw., Da. morter). It is, however, doubtful whether the word survived beyond OE.; if not, the existing word must be regarded as wholly a. F. mortier (whence Du. mortier), to which several of the ME. forms are clearly due. Senses 2, 3, 4 were taken from Fr.; the Fr. lexicographers regard them as transferred applications to objects more or less similar in shape to the ‘mortar’ of pharmacy.
Cf. Pr. mortier-s (in sense 1), Rumanian mozeriu (sense 1), It. mortajo (senses 1, 3), Sp. mortero (senses 1, 2, 3, 4), Pg. morteiro (senses 1, 3).]
1. a. A vessel of a hard material (e.g. marble, brass, wood, glass), having a cup-shaped cavity, in which ingredients used in pharmacy, cookery, etc., are pounded with a pestle.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 216 ᵹepuna þonne eall tosomne on anum mortere. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 448/29 Mortariola, mortere. 13.. K. Alis. 332 Herbes he tok in an herber, And stamped heom in a morter. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 7 Take wete,..And do hit in a morter shene; Bray hit a lytelle. 15.. in Vicary's Anat. App. ix. i. (1888) 220 Take the rootes of marche mallowes..and brysse them a lytle in a mortre. 1599 Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 243 One little brasse morter and ij pesteles. 1653 Walton Angler i. viii. 171 Then beat these together in a Mortar. 1681 Belon New Myst. Physick Introd. 26 Take of good red Coral,..make it into a gross Powder, in a Marble Mortar. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery ii. (1767) 57 Make a force-meat with half a pound of veal [etc.]..all beat fine together in a marble mortar. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts, etc. 438 By bruising a piece of enamel in an agate or porcelain mortar to a coarse powder like sand. |
| fig. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 44 Ac her sauce was..vnsauourely grounde, In a morter, post-mortem of many bitter peyne. 1382 Wyclif Prov. xxvii. 22 If thou bete togidere a fool in a morter..shal not ben take awei fro hym his folie. 1535, 1610, 1664, 1855 [see bray v.2 1 b]. 1662 M. W. Marriage Broker v. i, This Pestle shall ne're pound i' th widows mortar. [Cf. It. mortaro (ad fin.) Florio.] |
† b. As an instrument of punishment (see
quots.).
| [1423 Maldon (Essex) Court Rolls (Bundle 14. no. 1v), Uxor Johannis Morys est communis litigatrix et portabit mortarium.] 1468 Maldon (Essex) Liber B. fol. 12 b, Alle maner of brethelde brauleres..for ther braulyng shull bere the morter accordyng to the olde custum of this toun. 1572 in A. Clark Shirburn Ball. (1907) 47 [At Maldon, Essex.] To the sonne of Simon Sawyer for the ringinge of the bason borne before the surgeon wearinge the morter about his necke for baudry. 1637 in Boys Coll. Hist. Sandwich (1789) 708 A woman carries a wooden mortar throughout the town, hanging on the handle of an old broom upon her shoulder..for abusing mrs mayoress. 1789 Boys ibid. 789 The..wooden mortar for punishment of scolds. |
† c. Proverb.
to fly to Rome with a mortar on one's head:
app. a legendary achievement of some famous wizard.
Obs.| 1600 Kemp Nine Daies Wonder Ep. Ded., Me thinkes I could flye to Rome (at least hop to Rome, as the olde Prouerb is) with a morter on my head. a 1625 Fletcher Fair Maid Inn v. ii, He did measure the starres with a false yard, and may now travaile to Rome with a morter on's head to see if he can recover his mony that way. |
d. transf. (
a) In early use, a literalism of translation; (
b) later, applied to various mechanical appliances in which materials are pounded or ground.
| (a) c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 113 A morter [orig. mortarium = hole] faste is maad aboute the tre. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 594 In Greece they have a cast by themselves, to temper and beat in morters, the mortar made of lime and sand..with a great wooden pestill. 1728 T. Cooke tr. Hesiod, Wks. & Days ii. 60 Provide a Mortar three Feet deep, and strong; And let the Pistil be three Cubits long. |
| (b) 1766 C. Leadbetter Roy. Gauger ii. xiv. (ed. 6) 370 The Rags..are put into Troughs called Mortars, each Mortar having to it five Hammers. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1255 For grinding the tobacco leaves into snuff, conical mortars are employed. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Mortar,..the receptacle beneath the stamps in a stamp mill, in which the dies are placed, and into which the rock is fed to be crushed. 1902 Hall & Neal Anc. Ruins Rhodesia vi. 77 In no ruin, so far discovered, have the ancient mortars, or crushing-stones, or even gold quartz been discovered. |
2. A bowl of wax or oil with a floating wick, and later a kind of thick candle, used
esp. as a night-light.
Obs. exc. Hist.| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1487, & oþer louelych lyȝt þat lemed ful fayre As mony morteres of wax merkked withoute. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1245 For, by this morter which that I see brenne, Knowe I ful wel that day is not far henne. c 1430 Bk. Curtasye 503 in Babees Bk., A morter of wax..Þat alle nyȝt brennes in bassyn clere, To saue þo chambur on nyȝt for fyre. 1530 in Archæologia III. 156 Returning to the chaundry all the remains of mortars, torches, quarries, prickets and sizes. a 1603 in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. II. 56 Quarriers, Torches, and Mortroses. 1604 Househ. Ord. (1790) 305 Mortores, Torchetts, Torches, Quarrioures. 1641 J. Murrell Cookery & Carving 184 When your Soueraigne is in bed, draw the Curtaines, and see there be morter or waxe of perchours ready. 1852 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. viii. 89. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sci. I. 93/2 The wicks of wax mortars and nightlights are made of flax. |
3. a. orig. † mortar-piece: A short piece of ordnance with a large bore and with trunnions on its breech for throwing shells at high angles.
| 1558 Voy. Osep Napea in A. Jenkinson's Voy. & Trav. (Hakl. Soc.) II. 360 They haue also a great many of morter pieces or potguns, out of which pieces they shoote wild fire. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iv. 48 Hee stands there like a Morter⁓piece to blow vs. 1667 Pepys Diary 28 Apr., Stone-shot of thirty-six inches' diameter, which they shot out of mortar⁓pieces. 1687 Evelyn Diary 16 Mar., Those..Engines called bombs, shot out of the Mortar-piece on Blackheath. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy iii. xxii, They are two mortar-pieces for a siege next summer. |
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiv. 68 For Morters, or such chambers are only vsed for triumphs, there is no vse for them in this seruice. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2699/4, 8 Mortars, two of which are of 18 Inches diameter. 1727–52 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Mortar-piece, There are two kinds of mortars: the one hung or mounted on a carriage..; called pendent or hanging mortars: the other fixed on an immoveable base, called standing mortars. 1800 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1834) I. 112 Howitzers will not answer at Jemalabad; and I have therefore ordered there a thirteen and a ten inch mortar. 1858 Greener Gunnery 65 Mortars are intended for three purposes; firstly, to bombard a town, or injure the defenders' artillery; secondly, to fire or overthrow the works; thirdly, to break through the vaulted roofs of barracks and magazines. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 664 The number of men required is calculated for three reliefs,..15 per large mortar, and 9 per small mortar. |
b. transf. Applied to contrivances for firing ‘shells’ in pyrotechnic displays and for throwing a life-line (
cf. life-mortar s.v. life n. 17).
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xiii. 83 Of Artificial Fire-Works. To make the Mortar-Piece of Wood and Past-Board. Provide a Wooden-Ruler of such bigness as you desire to make the Diameter of the Morter. 1749 Descr. Machine for the Fireworks 9, 12 Mortars with Air Ballons. 1792 Trans. Soc. Arts X. 203 Trials were made, by throwing a loaded Shell on shore, from a small mortar... To the Shell was attached a rope. 1829 Mrs. Opie in Brightwell Life (1854) 223 To..watch, lest any vessel should be in distress on the coast, that the mortar might be used. 1873 Cornhill Mag. XXVIII. 72 The rocket and mortar apparatus..has frequently done good service where a lifeboat would have been useless. 1878 T. Kentish Pyrotechn. Treas. 117 Shells are hollow paper globes, fired vertically, from mortars. |
† 4. = mortier. Also
mortar cap.
Obs. The sense can hardly be said to have really existed in
Eng. Quot. 1604 is a mere literalism of translation, and the examples cited in recent Dicts. belong to 1 c. Davies
Suppl. Gloss. erroneously places under this sense a passage from Fuller
Pisgah (1650) iv. vi. 107, based on an obscure Talmudic text which (as translated by some scholars) describes the hypocritical Pharisee as ‘hanging down his head like a pestle in a mortar’.
| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xvi. 467 In some parts [they wear] as it were little morters [Sp. morteretes] or hattes. 1686 Chardin Coronat. Solyman 40 A flat Bonnet, somewhat like the Mortar Caps of the Presidents of the French Parliaments. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 1)
mortar-fashioned adj.,
† mortar pestle; (sense 1 d)
mortar-crushing; (sense 2)
mortar-light; (sense 3)
mortar-battery,
mortar-carriage,
mortar-man,
mortar-platform,
mortar-shell; (sense 3 b)
mortar station.
| 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4470/2 The *Mortar Battery on the Counterscarp..began to play. 1810 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VI. 360 They have not yet broken ground..excepting to construct what I conceive to be a mortar battery. |
| 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 664/1 *Mortar-carriages. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 246 About two tons [of ore] treated by hand (*mortar-crushing) yielded $8,000. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Lycoperdon, The *mortar fashioned lycoperdon. |
| 1856 Orr's Circ. Sci., Pract. Chem. 460 The best description of candle manufactured from wax is the *mortar-light, which is used either for night-watching or for heating dishes on the table. |
| 1952 G. E. Thornton Hand-bk. Weapon Training x. 109 The auxiliaries are placed in position by the mortarman's assistant, who works backwards in co-operation with the *mortarman. 1965 M. W. Browne New Face of War iii. 19 They lack optical sighting devices, but good mortarmen don't need gadgets like that. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 9/8 U.S. mortarmen mistakenly fired 36 rounds into an element of U.S. infantrymen. |
| 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 626 *Mortare pestelle, mortarium, pila. |
| 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v. Platform, *Mortar Platform, a platform similar to that used with siege guns, but of smaller dimensions. |
| 1879 Man. Artill. Exerc. ii. 40 *Mortar shells have no wooden bottom attached. |
| 1812 in G. W. Manby Ess. Preserv. Shipwr. Persons 32 Ships in danger of being wrecked on parts of the coast intermediate to the *mortar stations. |
b. Special comb.:
mortar-bed, (
a) see
bed n. 12 a; (
b) the bed on which the ore is crushed in a stamp-mill;
mortar-block, the foundation-timber of a stamp-mill;
mortar body, a paste used in the manufacture of porcelain mortars;
† mortar-cap (see 4);
mortar casemate (see
quot.);
mortar-hole, a hole in a rock used as a mortar in primitive ore-crushing;
mortar-man nonce-wd., an apothecary;
† mortar-piece (see 3);
mortar-press, the trough in which tobacco leaves are pressed before cutting;
mortar vessel (see
quot.);
mortar ware, a very hard porcelain biscuit invented by Wedgwood and used by him in the manufacture of mortars.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1776) s.v. Mortar, The middle..is bent..to embrace the trunnions, and keep them fast in the *mortar-bed. 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v. Mortar, Land-Mortar-Beds, are made of very solid timber. 1811, 1816 [see bed n. 12 a]. 1874 Raymond 6th Rep. Mines 353 The mortar-beds constitute a series of inclined terraces,..and the pulp passing through the screens of one battery is discharged immediately into the one next in front. |
| 1889 C. G. W. Lock Pract. Gold-mining 429 Mortars are often fixed directly upon vertical *mortar-blocks. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1020 *Mortar body, is a paste composed of 6 parts of clay [etc.]. |
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 138/2 *Mortar casemates are vaulted chambers without a front wall employed..to secure the mortars of the fortresses from vertical fire. |
| 1902 Hall & Neal Anc. Ruins Rhodesia vi. 78 Shallow hollows on the rocks where the quartz powdered in the *mortar-holes was evidently reduced to the fineness required for washing. |
| 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans I. 17 Prithee fellow its one of thy lies, replied the *mortar-man. |
| 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 17/2 The damp [tobacco] leaves are..laid in what is called a ‘*mortar⁓press’. |
| 1864 Chamb. Encycl., *Mortar-vessel, a class of gun-boat for mounting sea-service mortars. |
| 1865 Jewitt Wedgwoods x. 187 Josiah Wedgwood's inventions and discoveries... Basaltes,..jasper, bamboo and *mortar wares. |
▪ II. mortar, n.2 (
ˈmɔːtə(r))
Forms: 3–7
morter, 5
-ere,
-yer, 6
-are, 7–
mortar.
[ME. morter, mortier, a. F. mortier (13th c. in Littré):—L. mortārium. Cf. MDu. morter, mortel (Du. mortel), MHG. mortel, morter (G. mörtel), from Latin or Fr. The L.
mortārium in the sense ‘product of trituration’ (applied by Juvenal to drugs, and by Vitruvius to mortar) is commonly regarded as a transferred use of
mortārium mortar n.1 1, which was applied by extension to the trough in which mortar was mixed. It is possible, however, that the two senses of the Latin word are equally original, the suffix
-ārium being employed in two different functions.]
A material consisting of lime and sand mixed with water, which is used to make the joints between stones and bricks in building, and which, when set, binds them together into a solid mass. Also applied to materials of other composition used for the same purpose.
Various kinds are
gauged,
hydraulic,
pointing,
pozzolana,
trass,
water mortar, etc.; see the qualifying words.
The collocations
stone and mortar,
bricks and mortar, are
freq. used to denote the essential materials used in building; the latter phrase is also employed
colloq. for ‘houses’ or ‘house property’ (sometimes
attrib.).
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 57/125 Þo he ne miȝhte non oþur do þe churche for-to a-rere, he..bar morter þar-to. a 1300 Cursor M. 2246 Þe wark þai raised..Wit tile and ter, witvten stan Oþer morter was þer nan. 1340 Ayenb. 116 Þet guode mortyer huer-of me makeþ þe guode walles sarzineys. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 23504 The morter Was not..Stably among the stoones layd. 1534 Act 26 Hen. VIII c. 8 If the owner..doo not..with walles of morter and stone sufficiently inclose the same vacant grounde. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier F 4 An so spoiles hee much good morter and bricke. 1611 Bible Exod. i. 14 They made their liues bitter, with hard bondage, in morter and in bricke. a 1745 Swift Char. of Legion Club 178 We must give them better Quarter, For their Ancestor trod Mortar. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 530 In making mortar, particular attention must be paid to the quality of the sand. 1836 N. Paterson Manse Garden (1860) 29 The legal fence is one of stone and mortar. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxiii, Fragments of mortar..came dropping down. 1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 116 The plant must be sold, the brick and mortar walls demolished. 1895 Daily News 28 Oct. 9/3 Business..will be practically confined to small metropolitan brick and mortar investments. |
b. transf. (See
quots.)
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 344/2 Morter, for playsterynge.., litura. 1573 Baret Alv. M 435 Morter or clay mixed with straw, wherewith walles are dawbed, aceratum. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 71, I will tread this vnboulted villaine into morter, and daube the wall of a Iakes with him. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 398 To keep mice from corn, make morter of the froth of oyl mingled together with chaff,..then plaister the walls of your garnery therewith. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 101 The mill..pounded the raggs to morter for ye paper. 1797 Statist. Acc. Scotl. XIX. 339 note, That coarse red clay, called mortar, is the basis of all the grounds in this part of Strathmore. 1842–59 Gwilt Archit. ii. iii. §2235 The sorts of it [sc. plaster] are various; as for instance, white lime and hair mortar on bare walls. 1892 Pit-mortar [see pit n. 15]. |
† c. (
a) Building, masonry; (
b)
fig. building operations.
Obs.| 1582 Stanyhurst Aeneis ii. (1880) 59 No man, no morter can his onset forcibil hynder. 1665 Gerbier Brief Disc. 3 Those who say, That a wise man never ought to put his finger into Morter. 1798 W. Hutton Life 43, I..altered the plan..till, when put in execution, it cost more than 700l. Mortar is rather apt to corrode the pocket. |
d. fig.| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 321 And of his baptesme & blode þat he bledde on Rode He made a maner morter & mercy it hiȝte. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. v. (1520) 43/1 The morter of a werke that I have begon behoveth to be tempred with your blood. 1562 Winȝet Cert. Tractates Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 14 The prophetis of it, spargeonit thaim with vntemperit morter [cf. Ezek. xxii. 28]. 1649 J. Owen Shaking Heaven & Earth Wks. 1851 VIII. 277 All that antichristian mortar wherewith from their first chaos, they have been cemented. 1827 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 2 A trowel or two of biographic mortar. 1903 Speaker 21 Mar. 612/1 They regarded faith as the mortar which kept the bricks of society sticking together. |
e. attrib. and
Comb., as
mortar-built adj.,
mortar-engine,
mortar-joint,
mortar-like adj.,
mortar-maker,
mortar-making,
mortar-mill,
mortar-tempering,
† mortar-treader,
† mortar-treading,
mortar-tub;
mortar-bed, the layer of mortar between courses of brickwork or masonry;
mortar-liquid = grout;
mortar-man nonce-wd., a builder;
mortar-wash, thin mortar.
| 1842 Gwilt Archit. §1900 The propriety of the *mortar beds being as thin as possible. |
| 1900 A. Lang Hist. Scotl. I. iv. 68 *Mortar-built stone edifices. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Mortar-engine, a machine for grinding and combining materials into mortar. |
| 1878 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) II. 40 A steep skewback being formed for their springings to..moderate the thickness of the *mortar⁓joint. |
| 1704 London & Wise Compl. Gardener iii. xx. (ed. 4) 89 Rainy weather being apt to reduce the Mould to a *Mortar-like consistence. 1888 C. H. Fagge Syst. Med. (ed. 3) I. 105 The calcified growth has a peculiar dull white chalky, or mortar-like appearance. |
| 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 78 The Antients filled up their Work with *Mortar⁓liquid. |
| 1606 Holyoke Rider's Dict., A *morter maker or dawber, cœmentarius. 1825 [see mortar tub]. |
| 1596 S. Finch in Ducarel Hist. Croydon (1783) App. 152 Nowe we take *morter-makinge in hande. |
| 1659 Gauden Tears Ch. iv. xvi. 513 While Ministers preach..with divided tongues,..they are likely to produce no better successes..than those..*morter-men did, whose work deserved the nick-name of Babel. |
| 1878 Dict. Archit. (Arch. Publ. Soc.), *Mortar mill. 1904 Athenæum 31 Dec. 908/2 Poplar and St. Pancras both run fan-engines, clinker-crushers, and mortar-mills. |
| 1878 Dict. Archit. (Arch. Publ. Soc.) s.v. Mortar mill, The *mortar-tempering machine. |
| 1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 234, I smelt the foule-fisted *Morter⁓treader. |
| 1586 Sidney Arcadia iv. (1622) 427 Parting with his sword one of his legs from him, left him to make a roring lamentation that his *morter-treading was marred for euer. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 806 The Floor of the gallery where the mortar makers and smiths worked; shewing the situation of the *mortar tubs. |
| 1778 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 889 They ought to be washed over with a brush, wet with *mortar-wash. |
▪ III. † ˈmortar, v.1 Obs. rare.
[f. mortar n.1] intr. To use a mortar (and pestle). Only in
mortaring ppl. a.| 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden O 4, He may be such another craftie mortoring Druggeir. |
▪ IV. mortar, v.2 (
ˈmɔːtə(r))
[f. mortar n.2] a. trans. To plaster with mortar; to fix or join with mortar or a mortar-like substance.
| 1382 [see mortared ppl. a. below]. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 6 They made their inclosure..with earth and stones mortered together. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 33 The Wall..was built of Bricke mortered with asphalt. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 145 When they come to morter the rigge of an howse. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. iii. 12 We found the bones and ashes half mortered unto the sand and sides of the Urne. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 67 note, Bowls of broken china and pottery are mortared into the tombs. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 182 note, Every stone being fitted, mortared, and laid with studious accuracy. |
b. in
fig. context.
| 1610 Donne Pseudo-martyr Pref. C 3, You are euer after his [sc. the Pope's] instruments, to build vp his spirituall Monarchy..and your selues must ciment and morter the wals with your blood. 1619 Bp. Williams Serm. Apparell (1620) 8 This rotten house of ours, the which (were it not continually mortered and repaired with meat and drinke) [etc.]. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 292 Ye are living stones, ye must bee..firmly mortered upon the foundation of Christ. |
Hence
ˈmortared ppl. a., plastered, cemented, or daubed with mortar;
ˈmortaring vbl. n.| 1382 Wyclif Amos vii. 7 A wall teerid, or morterd [1388 plastrid, Vulg. murum litum]. 1892 T. B. F. Eminson Epidemic Pneumonia at Scotter 11 A catch-pit of mortared or unmortared brick. 1897 Harper's Mag. Apr. 730 Workers..are thus spared the mortification of intruding..mortared or sooty shoes..among the well-dressed passengers. 1905 Holman Hunt Pre-Raphlm. II. 276 The unlovely stone and mortared wall. 1954 M. Beresford Lost Villages ii. 73 Packing and mortaring had been carefully executed, and both faces of the wall were regular and straight. |
▪ V. mortar, v.3 [f. mortar n.1 3.] trans. To direct mortar fire upon; to hit with mortar shells.
| 1951 in Conc. Oxf. Dict. (ed. 4). 1967 C. Connell World's Greatest Sieges xxix. 239 The Germans followed the rear-guard down to the water's edge..mortaring men and boats indiscriminately. 1974 Times 18 Mar. 6/6 In the towns, he said, the Arab garrisons had mortared and bombed Kurdish quarters. |
Hence
ˈmortaring vbl. n.| [1920 G. M. Churcher in R. Artillery War Commem. Bk. ii. 43/2 The infantry were more than friends... Without their help trench-mortaring..would not have been the fun it was.] 1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 229 All that shelling, mortaring and machine-gunning hadn't put a single bunker out of action, although it had spread the jungle about the place. 1972 L. Lamb Picture Frame ii. 21 Mortaring started just as he reached the Bois Mesnil lane. |