Cannonry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The use or operation of large mounted guns or artillery in battle; the artillery weapons collectively used by an army or military force; the tactics and skills related to firing and managing heavy guns
2. The art and practice of employing heavy firearms designed to launch projectiles over distances; the collection of such heavy artillery pieces as used in warfare; the science and technique involved in the deployment and targeting of these guns
3. The function and deployment of large-caliber guns in combat scenarios; all artillery pieces and their crews considered as a unit; the skill and methodology involved in handling and firing such large guns accurately

Etymology: "Cannonry" is a plain English formation: the noun "cannon" with the suffix "-ry" added. The suffix has a longer route than the word itself. It passed from Latin "-arius" through Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-erie", and by the time it reached English it had come to mean a collection, a practice, or a place associated with something. That pattern gives us words like "gunnery" and "artillery" alongside it. The base word "cannon" is the older and more surprising half of the story. Its earlier English forms were tied to tubes and cylinders, and the military sense of a heavy gun developed from that shape. Adding "-ry" turned the weapon into the wider idea of the whole practice around it: the men who served such guns, the equipment they used, and the skill of firing them.

Synonyms: artillery, gunnery, ordnance