trench mortar

Save This Word!

noun

a portable, muzzle-loaded mortar, usually having a smooth bore, fired at high angles of elevation to reach concealed enemy targets.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of trench mortar

First recorded in 1915–20

Words nearby trench mortar

trencherman, trenches, trench fever, trench foot, trench knife, trench mortar, trench mouth, trench warfare, trend, trendify, trending

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use trench mortar in a sentence

Of such incompatibles is compounded the mortar of his art work.
Mailer’s Letters Pack a Punch and a Surprising Degree of Sweetness|Ronald K. Fried|December 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then came the day Mustafa, along with two others, was killed by a mortar shell.
Drawing on the Memories of Syrian Women|Masha Hamilton|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Artillery and mortar duels all around the outskirts of Donetsk rumble angrily every day.
Should the U.S. Arm Ukraine’s Militias?|Jamie Dettmer|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When Louise and Bibi returned to their home, they found it strewn with ammunition and pockmarked with mortar craters.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis|Nina Strochlic|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Holding the architectural smorgasbord of a castle together was cement, wire, and mortar.
The Postman Who Built a Palace in France…by Hand|Nina Strochlic|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There, if his eyes did not deceive him, were evidences of mortar dislodged by nefarious toes.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
No word of the bombs and trench mortars I asked for six weeks ago, but the "bayonets" are coming in liberally now.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
I asked him if that amounted to one shell per yard and he said the whole length of the trench was less than 100 yards.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
The band took up a position in an old Spanish trench and played as the troops filed past along the beach.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
The Anzacs are very much depressed to hear they are to get no more bombs for their six Japanese trench mortars.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for trench mortar

trench mortar

noun

a portable mortar used in trench warfare to shoot projectiles at a high trajectory over a short range

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012