angel-shot
[called also in Fr. ange; in reference to the wing-like position of the segments on each side of the central disk, in its flight through the air.]
A species of chain-shot used to destroy the rigging of ships, etc., consisting of the (2 or 4) segments of a hollow ball, attached by chains to a central disk; these appendages being packed inside, the whole was fired as a ball, which spread asunder in its course.
| 1731 Bailey, Angel shot, chain-shot, being a cannon bullet cut in two, and the halves being joined together by a chain. |