machicolate

American  

[muh-chik-uh-layt] / məˈtʃɪk əˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

machicolated, machicolating

1. to provide with machicolations.

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machicolate British  

/ məˈtʃɪkəʊˌleɪt /

verb

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

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

machicolated

It had four great towers, crenelated and machicolated, after the best Gothic fortresses of the time.

From Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country by M. F. (Milburg Francisco) Mansfield

Inspired by his animated pages, we descanted with the profoundest erudition, to our astonished companion on the box, about its machicolated towers, and the finely proportioned mullions of the hall.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 by Various

On each side spread the brown machicolated battlements that vainly defended the death-stricken place.

From The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol by Alec Ball

Massive gates and crumbling machicolated walls command a green plain, where immense waringen-trees, clipped into the semblance of evergreen umbrellas, display the Eastern symbol of sovereignty.

From Through the Malay Archipelago by Emily Richings

Our camp was pitched on a grassy flat just below the village of Chushar Nango with its fine old ruined tower of stone with machicolated galleries all round it.

From Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 by Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury

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