mitraille

See also: mitraillé

English

Etymology

From Old French mitaille (“small coins; hence scrap iron, old iron; then grapeshot”); originally diminutive of mite (“small coin”). See also mitrailleur.

Noun

mitraille (uncountable)

1. (military, historical) shot or bits of iron used sometimes in loading cannon

Synonyms

• grapeshot

Related terms

• mitraillade
• mitrailleur
• mitrailleuse

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.tʁaj/

Etymology 1

From Old French mitaille (“small coins; hence scrap iron, old iron; then grapeshot”); originally diminutive of mite (“small coin”), from Old Dutch mite (“something small”), from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”).

Noun

mitraille f (plural mitrailles)

1. grapeshot
2. (informal) dosh, dough (money)

Derived terms

• mitrailler

Descendants

• → Catalan: metralla
• → Galician: metralla
• → Italian: mitraglia
• → Portuguese: metralha
• → Sicilian: mitragghia
• → Spanish: metralla

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mitraille

1. inflection of mitrailler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “mitraille”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.