‖ orgue Obs.
[F. orgue organ, instrument, warlike machine, etc., as in quots.]
1. Fortification. (See quot. 1706.)
| 1706 Phillips, Orgues..in Fortification, long and thick pieces of Wood, armed with Iron-Plates at the end, and hung up separately by a Cord, over a Gate; being ready upon any surprize, to be let fall in the Way, to stop it up instead of a Portcullice. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy VI. xxii, These [portcullises] were converted afterwards into orgues, as the better thing. 1853 Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 204/1 Orgues..are now disused. |
2. Old Artillery. (See quot.)
| 1706 Phillips, Orgues is also taken for a Device, consisting of many Harquebusses linked together, or of several Musket-Barrels set in a row within one wooden Stock, to be discharged either all at once, or separately. |
3. An organ: in quot. a series of basaltic columns like organ-pipes.
| 1836 G. Darley Nepenthe in Q. Rev. July (1902) 191 Where his vast orgue, high-fluted, stands Basaltic, swept with billowy hands. |