Mortars

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of heavy artillery weapon used to launch explosive projectiles at a high angle; a bowl-shaped vessel used for crushing and grinding substances; a strong substance used in construction to bind bricks or stones together
2. A portable cannon that fires shells in a high arc for tactical purposes; a tool made of a heavy bowl and a pestle for material processing; a mix of sand, cement, and water used for building tasks
3. An artillery device designed to project explosives over obstacles; an instrumental kitchen tool for mashing ingredients; a construction material that anchors masonry for stability

Etymology: "Mortars" is the plural of "mortar," and the three senses listed here share one ancestor: a heavy bowl in which things were pounded to pieces. That bowl came into English from Old French "mortier," which in turn descends from Latin "mortārium," the word for a mixing or pounding vessel. Middle English took it as "morter," and the same Latin word also gave English its doublet "mortarium," a rarer form that kept the Latin shape. The kitchen sense is the closest to the original. A pestle and mortar crushes spices or garlic by grinding them against the bowl's walls, and the mashing tool in the question is that same principle in simpler form. The building material and the weapon are later extensions of the idea. Masonry mortar is a paste that binds stones and bricks, and the artillery piece got its name because its short, wide barrel resembles a bowl turned upward, from which it lobs shells in a high arc.

Synonyms: cements, binders, adhesives, paste, glue