GUN n.
ile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge behind, which is ignited by various means. Muskets, rifles, carbines, and fowling pieces are smaller guns, fo…
LAST n.
corn, ten quarters, or eighty bushels, in some parts of England, twenty-one quarters; of gunpowder, twenty-four barrels, each containing 100 lbs; of red herrings, twenty cades, or 20,000; of hides, twelve dozen; of leather, twenty dickers; of pitch and tar, fourteen barrels; of wool, twelve sacks; of flax or feathers,…
MATCH n.
ighted matches. -- Quick match, threads of cotton or cotton wick soaked in a solution of gunpowder mixed with gum arabic and boiling water and afterwards strewed over with mealed powder. It burns at the rate of one yard in thirteen seconds, and is used as priming for heavy mortars, fireworks, etc. -- Slow match, slig…
PEBBLE n.
ock crystal; as, Brazilian pebble; -- so called by opticians. Pebble powder, slow-burning gunpowder, in large cubical grains. -- Scotch pebble, varieties of quartz, as agate, chalcedony, etc., obtained from cavities in amygdaloid.
PERCUSSION n.
per cap or cup, containing fulminating powder, and used with a percussion lock to explode gunpowder. -- Percussion fuze. See under Fuze. -- Percussion lock, the lock of a gun that is fired by percussion upon fulminating powder. -- Percussion match, a match which ignites by percussion. -- Percussion powder, powder s…
PILE n.
h suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile. -- Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake. -- Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling. --…
POWDER n.
An explosive mixture used in gunnery, blasting, etc.; gunpowder. See Gunpowder. Atlas powder, Baking powder, etc. See under Atlas, Baking, etc. -- Powder down (Zoöl.), the peculiar dust, or exfoliation, of powder-down feathers. -- Powder-down feather (Zoöl.), one of a peculiar kind of modified feathers which sometime…