Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💨 Air resistance 🎯 Wind deflection 🔫 Space in barrel
windage

windage

9.9
A gap between a gun's projectile and the inside of its barrel that lets gas escape
  • noun
  • /ˈwɪn.dɪdʒ/
  • Archaic
translation icon : espacio de viento
  • When the windage is too great, much of the gunpowder's force is lost.
  • windage and elevation

Examples

  • The excessive windage reduced the musket's firing efficiency.

  • The shooter made adjustments to the scope for windage to ensure the projectile hit the target accurately.

  • Gunmakers worked to minimize windage to improve accuracy and power.

  • The windage of the cannon was carefully measured.

  • Adjusting the windage can improve accuracy.

  • Properly setting the windage allows the marksman to account for external factors like air movement when aiming.

  • Before taking the shot, the hunter checked the windage on his rifle to compensate for the strong gusts of wind.

Surface Forms

windage singular
windages plural

Morphology

windage = wind (opaque) = wind + -age + age

The construction wind + -age is historical, but the artillery sense is highly specialized and not recoverable from the parts alone.

Etymology

Windage also came to mean a small 'space where air or gas can pass' in old guns, from wind plus -age. That is why windage can mean the gap between a projectile and the barrel that lets gas escape and reduces power.