machicolate

American  

[muh-chik-uh-leyt] / məˈtʃɪk əˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

machicolated, machicolating

1. to provide with machicolations.

---

machicolate British  

/ məˈtʃɪkəʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to construct machicolations at the top of (a wall)

---

Etymology

Origin of machicolate

First recorded in 1765–75; from Medieval Latin machecoll(um), a Latinization of unattested Middle French machecol literally, “(it) breaks (the) neck” (from the use of such openings to drop projectiles on an ascending attacker; mache, 3rd-person singular present of macher “to beat, break, bruise” (apparently of expressive origin) + col “neck, collar”) + -ate ¹; compare late Middle English machecollyd “machicolated”; see collar

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

machicolated

Laforgue's Salomé tries to sport with the head of John the Baptist, stumbles, loses her footing, and falls from the machicolated wall on jagged rocks below, as the head floats out to sea, miraculously alight.

From Ivory Apes and Peacocks by Huneker, James

The walls, which are of great strength, are surmounted by machicolated battlements, flanked at intervals by thirty-nine massive towers and pierced by several gateways, three of which date from the 14th century.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" by Various

It is three hundred and thirty-four feet high, and is built of brick with a machicolated stone cap and bell-turret above.

From Cathedral Cities of Italy by Collins, William Wiehe

Of the stronghold little remains save the machicolated gate-way, flanked with ponderous round towers bearing quaint inscriptions.

From A Literary Pilgrimage Among the Haunts of Famous British Authors by Wolfe, Theodore F. (Theodore Frelinghuysen)

From machicolated tower, keep, peel and curtain, the nimble Highlanders, torchless, scrambled down, cheering as they came.

From A Prince of Good Fellows by Barr, Robert