Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
mangonel [mang-guh-nel] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- (formerly) any of various military engines for throwing large stones, darts, and other missiles.
Origin of mangonel 1250–1300; Middle English Old French (diminutive), derivative of Late Latin manganum Greek mánganon engine of war Examples from the Web for mangonel Historical Examples of mangonel
The Norman hath a mangonel or a trabuch upon the forecastle.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Mangonel, s. a military engine on the principle of the sling-staff for casting stones, a catapult, C 6279.
Chaucer’s Works, Volume 6 (of 7) — Introduction, Glossary, and Indexes
Geoffrey Chaucer
Ye dauntless archers, twang your cross-bows well; On, bill and battle-axe and mangonel!
William Makepeace Thackeray
There was one mangonel so close under the walls that when all its crew were shot dead no others had ventured to man it.
William Stearns Davis
Ye dauntless archers, twang your cross-bows well; On, bill and battle-ax and mangonel!
A History of Pendennis, Volume 1
William Makepeace Thackeray
British Dictionary definitions for mangonel mangonel noun
- history a war engine for hurling stones
Word Origin for mangonel C13: via Old French from Medieval Latin manganellus, ultimately from Greek manganon Word Origin and History for mangonel n.
“military engine for hurling stones,” mid-13c., from Old French mangonel “catapult, war engine for throwing stones, etc.” (Modern French mangonneau), diminutive of Medieval Latin mangonum, from Vulgar Latin *manganum “machine,” from Greek manganon “any means of tricking or bewitching,” from PIE *mang- “to embellish, dress, trim” (cf. Old Prussian manga “whore,” Middle Irish meng “craft, deception”). Attested from c.1200 in Anglo-Latin.