Random Word Post – machicolation

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I find a random word by flipping through my 2003 The New Webster’s Concise Dictionary and write a quick – often silly – little post about it. # “machicolation – Architecture. An opening between a wall and a parapet, on a roof over an entrance, etc., to permit the dropping of missiles or boiling liquids on an enemy.” I was going to say I thought those were murder holes, but figured there would be a more technical name for them. But I guess machicolations were to try to kill people trying to climb the walls or get in the outer gate, while murder holes – or meurtrières – covered the passageway between the outer and inner gates.