howitzer

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch houwitser, from German Haubitze, from Middle High German haufniz, from Czech houfnice, which was derived from houf (“flock, crowd”) +‎ -nice. The Czech noun houf comes from Middle High German hufe (“heap”), from Old High German hūfo.[1]

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhaʊ.ɪts.ə(ɹ)/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhaʊ.ɪts.əɹ/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

howitzer (plural howitzers)

  1. A cannon that combines certain characteristics of field guns and mortars, delivering projectiles with medium velocities, usually with relatively high trajectories; normally a cannon with a tube length of 20 to 30 calibers.
  2. (sports, rugby, ice hockey) A powerfully hit shot.
    • 2018 September 7, Tom English, “Scotland 0-4 Belgium”, in BBC Sport‎:
      Belgium took a little while to catch Scotland with the first of the howitzer blows, but when the first one landed there was a certainty of more. Many more.

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

howitzer (third-person singular simple present howitzers, present participle howitzering, simple past and past participle howitzered)

  1. To attack with a howitzer.

See also

References
  1. “howitzer”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
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