machicolation.

An opening in the floor of a projecting battlement through which defenders could drop objects on attackers below.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• stone machicolation
• machicolations above a gate
• projecting machicolations

On the page

A row of machicolations overlooked the castle entrance.

Daylight showed through the machicolation above his head.

The projecting stone gallery retained its original machicolations.

Usage notes

Primary category: architecture. Forms: Singular machicolation; plural machicolations. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.