mortar1
/ˈmɔːtə
/
noun
1A short smooth-bore gun for firing shells (technically called bombs) at high angles: mortars and machine guns [as modifier]: nine civilians died in a horrific mortar attack...
- A spokesman for the Polish-led forces reportedly said the insurgents used a car bomb, mortars and machine guns.
- The Rev Alan Reeve went to preach in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, last month and was evacuated two weeks later following an attack of mortar bombs and machine gun fire.
- Near Baquba, insurgents coordinated a car bombing and a mortar attack on a police station.
1.1A device used for firing a lifeline or firework.Rockets are more sophisticated devices than mortars.
2A cup-shaped receptacle in which ingredients are crushed or ground, used in cooking or pharmacy: a pestle and mortar...
- With a mortar and pestle, crush the thyme, garlic, and peppercorns and place. in a large saucepan.
- They can be ground easily in a mortar and pestle or in an electric spice or coffee grinder.
- Individual garnets were cut from selected samples, crushed in a mortar and pestle and sieved.
verb [with object]
Attack or bombard with a mortar: the Commando positions were being heavily mortared (as noun mortaring) at first light the mortaring and sniping started...
- In June 2004, the Post Exchange here was mortared, killing two Soldiers and wounding more than a dozen additional troops.
- Staff Sergeant Brian Flading, a 19D Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, remembers an incident when his platoon was mortared one night in Balad.
- In a couple of minutes we're in an even poorer-looking neighborhood, bouncing slowly on a street that resembles a heavily mortared battlefield.
Origin
Late Old English (in sense 2 of the noun), from Old French mortier, from Latin mortarium (to which the English spelling was later assimilated).
A Latin mortarium was the sort of mortar you use with a pestle to grind things. The gun got its name in the mid 16th century because its dumpy shape reminded people of a mortar. The mortar you use for bonding bricks is recorded from the mid-13th century and probably got its name from the same mortar, because the ingredients are ground up. See also piston
Rhymes
mortar2
/ˈmɔːtə/noun [mass noun]
A mixture of lime with cement, sand, and water, used in building to bond bricks or stones.The major components of construction, as we all know, are, cement, steel, timber, bricks, mortar, sand, etc....
- A recycling operation takes concrete, brick, mortar and plaster from building sites and grinds them down into building soil to be sold.
- In addition to using the same granite, the original mortar was matched with Portland cement lime mortar.
verb [with object]
Fix or join using mortar: the pipe can be mortared in place...
- Although steps must be mortared for safety, pavers and flagstones on level ground can be dry-laid in sand, which allows water and oxygen to reach tree roots below.
- These are installed as the blocks are mortared into place.
- Like conventional bricks, adobes are laid in a running bond - an overlapping pattern - then mortared in place with adobe mud.
Derivatives
mortarless
- You can apply these principals of mortarless brickwork to anything from a small patio to a driveway - the scope of the project is up to you.
- The bricklaying process for a mortarless barbecue is much simpler than that of a brick barbecue with mortar.
- Even for a novice do-it-yourselfer, installing a mortarless flagstone path is a practically foolproof project.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French mortier, from Latin mortarium, probably a transferred sense of the word denoting a container (see mortar1).