langrel

English edit

Noun edit

(military, naval, obsolete or historical) Langrage (scraps of metal used to fire at an enemy).
- 1931, Rafael Sabatini, “The Chronicles Of Captain Blood”, in [aka Captain Blood Returns], published 2008, page 80:
  The “Virgen del Pilar” was within five hundred yards of the harbour's mouth, when six sakers, charged now with langrel, chain and cross-bar, swept her decks with murderous effect and some damage to her shrouds.
- 1987, Brian Lavery, The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War, 1600-1815, page 137:
  Langrel shot was also intended to damage the enemy's rigging.
- 2014, MaryLu Tyndall, Legacy of the King's Pirates 3: The Restitution, unnumbered page:
  “And ready the langrel shot,” he yelled to Smithy.
  Isabel turned to Cutter, fear sparking within her. “What is langrel?” “A type of cannon shot meant to damage sails and masts. Never fear, milady. He means only to cripple them.”

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “langrel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)