Word of the Day
embraser
Embraser
Old French
English pronunciation/ɪmˈbɹeɪʒəɹ/French pronunciation/ɑ̃.bʁa.zyʁ/
“An embrasure is the gap in a castle wall — the opening between the merlons on top of a battlement, or the splayed window that lets a defender shoot out while being almost impossible to shoot into.”
Embrasure comes from the Old French embraser (to widen an opening, to splay), possibly related to braser (to burn, to cut). The word entered English in the early eighteenth century, though the architectural feature is medieval. An embrasure is any opening in a fortification wall designed for firing weapons — either the gaps between merlons (the raised sections of a battlement) or the splayed window openings in tower walls.
4 stops · from Medieval France to Military architecture worldwide