2007-10-22 11:46:29 · 15 answers · asked by Kev E 5 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones and lethally hot liquids could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement projects outwards from the supporting wall in order to facilitate this. A hoarding is a similar structure made of wood, usually temporarily constructed in the event of a siege. One advantage of the machicolation over wooden hoarding is protection behind stone battlements, as well as being fire proof.
2007-10-22 11:53:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones and lethally hot liquids could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned (see Normans). A machicolated battlement projects outwards from the supporting wall in order to facilitate this. A hoarding is a similar structure made of wood, usually temporarily constructed in the event of a siege. One advantage of the machicolation over wooden hoarding is protection behind stone battlements, as well as being fire proof.
The word derives from the Old French word machicoller, derived from Old Provençal machacol, and ultimately from Latin macar (to crush) + collum (the neck). A variant of machicolations set in the ceiling of a passage was also colloquially known as murder-h
2007-10-22 19:08:18 · answer #2 · answered by Fr3dinbed 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope. But I just looked it up and it means an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath. Thank you Dictionary.com.
2007-10-22 18:52:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
In medieval times, a gallery or parapet sometimes jutted outside the walls of a castle, the struts that support it are called machicolation.
2007-10-23 01:37:10 · answer #4 · answered by elflaeda 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is the floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which hot liquid IE water,oil or stones could be dropped on attackers as the base of the wall
2007-10-22 18:56:16 · answer #5 · answered by mal 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Never heard of it to be honest, is that the same as Metriculation... Just a thought hammy.
2007-10-23 10:35:35 · answer #6 · answered by milly 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a projecting gallery on top of a castle wall
2007-10-22 18:51:30 · answer #7 · answered by Zest 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its already been said Kev...
...say, you're not thinkin of bungee jumpin off a castle wall are you sir?
2007-10-22 19:05:31 · answer #8 · answered by Ask_Elvis 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I do now, 'cos I looked it up. The bit in a castle parapet that you pour the boiling oil from. Be quicker for you if you'd just looked it up yourself, mind, but thanks for the trivia....
2007-10-22 18:55:09 · answer #9 · answered by scooter 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Machi... Macho.... Machicollalala.... What?
2007-10-22 18:49:59 · answer #10 · answered by ☮all you need is love 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋