siege piece

noun

1. a piece of gold or silver stamped as provisional legal tender in a besieged area.

Word History and Origins

Origin of siege piece¹

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

Siege′-piece, a coin, generally of unusual shape and rude workmanship, issued in a besieged place during stress of siege; Siege′-train, the materials carried by an army for the purpose of laying siege to a place.—State of siege, a condition of things in which civil law is suspended or made subordinate to military law; Minor state of siege, a modification of the more severe rule in cases of merely domestic trouble.

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The approximate amount of labor actually expended on the more important works is as follows: One emplacement for a siege piece, 40 days; one emplacement for a heavy breaching gun, 100 days; one bomb-proof magazine, 250 days; construction and repairs of each yard of approach having splinter-proof parapet, 2 days; a lineal yard of narrow splinter-proof shelter, 4 days; a lineal yard of wide splinter-proof shelter, 8 days; to make and set one yard of inclined palisading, 2 days.

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The shell called heavy will be 5¾ feet in length, and weigh 2,310 pounds, say more than a 4¾ inch siege piece!

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In the first place, we have a gun of very great caliber—a 13¼ inch steel coast and siege piece.

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