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crenel

crenel

9.9
A narrow opening between raised parts of a castle wall for shooting or looking
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɛnəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : merlón
  • The walls whispered dryly behind them; she flinched at the crash as a crenel broke off and plummeted.

Examples

  • They intermittently duck behind the crenels in between rifle shots.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • A bullet ricochets off the crenel.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Other legionnaires leave their crenels.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Through crenels in the parapet, I stare at the desert.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Bullet hits ricochet off their crenels, pelting them with sharp particles of debris.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • From its battlements, through its widest crenels, poured a waterfall.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • It stretched up and up, a thousand walls within other walls, all with wide merlons, narrow crenels, and thousands of turrets and balconied minarets.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The gate, along with the chimney pots that serrated the sky like crenels and merlons, evoked for Claude the image of a sprawling castle.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The soldiers took cover behind the crenels to shield themselves from enemy fire.

  • She observed the landscape through the crenels of the ancient castle's battlements.

Synonyms

crenelle
vscrenel
  • Specialized
9.9

An open gap in a castle wall between raised parts used for shooting or looking

has identical meaning but is an alternative spelling or form

Surface Forms

crenel singular
crenels plural

Etymology

Crenel comes from an old French word crenel meaning 'notch' or cut, like the gaps made in a castle wall; these gaps let soldiers look and fire while staying partly protected, which is why a crenel is the open space between the raised parts of a battlement.