embrasure

English

Etymology

From Middle French embrasure.

Noun

embrasure (plural embrasures)

1. (architecture, military) Any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement.
2. The slanting indentation in a wall for a door or window, such that the space is larger on the inside than the outside.
   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, p. 155:

     Now he stands in a window embrasure, Liz's prayer book in hand.

3. (obsolete) An embrace.
   • Shakespeare

     Our locked embrasures.

Translations

Any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement

• Bulgarian: бойница (bg) (bojnica) f
• French: embrasure (fr) f, ébrasure (fr) f
• German: Scharte (de) f, Schießscharte (de) f

• Jèrriais: êvilement m
• Portuguese: capialço
• Russian: амбразура (ru) (ambrazura), бойница (ru) (bojnica)