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Glite Dictionary
trench mortar

trench mortar

8.7
A short gun that fires shells high into the air over short distances in trench fighting
  • noun
  • /trɛnʧ ˈmɔrtər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : mortar de trinchera
  • Or as the First Circuit put it in a case decided a few years after Miller: "Another objection to this reading of Miller... is that according to it Congress would be prevented by the Second Amendment from regulating the possession or use by private persons of distinctly military arms, such as machine guns, trench mortars, anti-tank or anti-aircraft guns...."
  • guns and trench mortars
  • machine guns and trench mortars

The technical answer to those problems were small trench mortars.

Examples

  • The soldiers used a trench mortar to launch shells over the enemy's defenses.

  • I wish it was a trench mortar.

    Nine Men (1943)

  • British Stokes trench mortars were much more common, and Chinese factories even produced homemade copies.

  • Haldane wrote: "Here men were pitted against individual enemies with similar weapons, trench mortars or rifles with telescopic sights, each with a small team helping him."

    Academic text (1998)

  • During World War I, trench mortars became essential for infantry units engaged in close combat.

  • The military conducted training exercises with a new type of trench mortar designed for better accuracy.

Synonyms

mortar
vstrench mortar
76 7.5

A short gun that fires explosive shells at a high angle

is built specifically for close dug in frontline fighting and uses muzzle loading
howitzer
vstrench mortar
  • Specialized
10 9.9

A large gun with a short barrel that fires shells high to hit nearby targets

is a smaller muzzle loaded weapon for close dug in frontline use

Surface Forms

trench mortar singular
trench mortars plural

Morphology

trench + mortar

The meaning is directly compositional: 'trench' specifies the location/context and 'mortar' names the weapon, so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a type of mortar used in trenches. Although technical specifics (short‑barrel, muzzle‑loading) are specialized, the core sense (a mortar for trench warfare) is transparently derivable and cross‑linguistically consistent.

Etymology

Trench mortar comes from World War I and the word mortar, a short, bowl-like launcher used near trenches. The weapon was a short, stout tube that 'threw' explosive shells in a high arc into enemy trenches, so the name connects its shape and its use.