six-pounder
(ˈsɪkspaʊndə(r))
[f. six a. + pounder n.4]
1. A cannon throwing shot six pounds in weight.
| 1684 J. Peter Relat. Siege of Vienna 108 Six pounders, 2. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. iv. 169 Four six pounders, four four pounders, and two swivels. 1790 Beatson Naval & Milit. Mem. II. 166 A light brass six-pounder to be fixed in the bow of their long-boat. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 347/1 The report was smart like that of a six-pounder. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xx. 568 Cornwallis planted..some six-pounders on his own left. |
| fig. 1797 in Lockhart Scott (1837) I. viii. 263 Clerk and I are continually obliged to open a six-pounder upon him in self-defence. |
| attrib. 1810 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VI. 220 The Portuguese six pounder brigade. |
b. A shot weighing six pounds.
| 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 628 He was himself hit by a second ball, a sixpounder. |
† 2. (See
quot.)
Obs.—0| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Six pounder, a servant maid, from the wages formerly given to maid servants, which was commonly six pounds. |