crenel
Americannoun
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any of the open spaces between the merlons of a battlement.
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a crenature.
verb (used with object)
noun
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any of a set of openings formed in the top of a wall or parapet and having slanting sides, as in a battlement
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another name for crenation
Etymology
Origin of crenel
1475–85; earlier creneul, crennel < Middle French, Old French, apparently diminutive of cren notch (attested since the 15th century), Old French cran, of uncertain origin; cf. crenate, cranny
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A bolt passed within a foot of him, shattering the crust of frozen snow that had plugged the closest crenel.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
He knocked aside the wall of fresh-fallen snow filling up the crenel and leaned out between the merlons.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The battlements bristled with spears and swords and scorpions, there was an archer at every crenel and arrow slit, the drawbridge was up, the portcullis down, the gates closed and barred.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
On the inside of the rampart and in the wide crenel between two upthrust merlons.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
And, turning aside, she motioned Gonzaga to the crenel she abandoned.
From Love-at-Arms by Sabatini, Rafael
They got within thirty yards of the walls when they found themselves in front of a crenelled outwork with a deep ditch before it.
From The Three Midshipmen by Prout, Victor
Over it there is sprung a high-arched, rough stone bridge, with crenelled walls, quite as artistic in its way as may be found in pictures of ancient English brook-crossings.
From Historic Waterways?Six Hundred Miles of Canoeing Down the Rock, Fox, and Wisconsin Rivers by Thwaites, Reuben Gold
A little farther off, on the left, stood the black pile of the Casa Mata, the arsenal, crenelled for musketry, and surrounded by a quadrangular field work.
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 17 by Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis)
“Quien viva!” came the sonorous hail of a sentinel from the crenelled parapet.
From The Tiger Hunter by Reid, Mayne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
