grapeshot
- 1A cluster of small iron balls packed in a canvas bag and fired from a cannon as a single charge.
Like a giant shotgun shell: one firing that sprays many small projectiles at once.
The gunners rammed grapeshot down the barrel as the cavalry drew near.
At close range, grapeshot turned the field gun into a devastating weapon against advancing infantry.
Note
The name is a picture: packed in its canvas bag, the shot looked like a bunch of grapes, and grape plus shot made the obvious compound. It belongs to the age of artillery before modern shell ammunition, so today it is a word for writing about past wars. Treat it as a mass noun (loaded with grapeshot, a charge of grapeshot); the plural grapeshots exists but is the exception.
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Origin
Formed from grape and shot, named because the bag of shot resembled a bunch of grapes.