culverin

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a long-barreled cannon used chiefly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

   The fortress windows stood above the effective range of the enemy's culverin.

2. 2
   noun

   an early gunpowder firearm or musket, smaller than the artillery weapon of the same name

   A guard at the gate carried a light culverin across his shoulder.

From Middle English culveryne, through Old French coulevrine from couleuvre ("snake"), ultimately from Latin colubra ("snake"). The weapon was named for its unusually long, slender, snake-like barrel.

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