culverin

American  

[kuhl-ver-in] / ˈkʌl vər ɪn /

noun

1. medieval form of musket.

2. a kind of heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries.

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culverin British  

/ ˈkʌlvərɪn /

noun

1. a long-range medium to heavy cannon used during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries

2. a medieval musket

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Etymology

Origin of culverin

1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French coulevrine < Latin colubrīna, feminine of colubrīnus colubrine

Example Sentences

Arundel died at the age of 27 after his leg was shattered, in May 1435, by a shot from a primitive cannon, or culverin, at Gerberoy, France.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

This plan did not work; gunnery was so imprecise that no captain knew whether a given culverin would dismast his enemy, drop its ball a quarter-mile short, or explode and wreck his own ship.

From Time Magazine Archive

The man slid slowly down the wet side of the culverin, toward the breech.

From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas

Here, for the first time, I saw an old-time culverin, rusty with age and for want of care.

From Told by the Death's Head A Romantic Tale by J?kai, M?r

On a hill overlooking the harbor a row of torches blazed, illuminating a battery of eighteen- pound culverin set above a high stone breastwork.

From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas