twelve-pounder

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a cannon classified as firing a projectile weighing twelve pounds

   The battery positioned a twelve-pounder to defend the road into the town.

2. 2
   noun

   a twelve-pound projectile fired by such a cannon

   The twelve-pounder struck the earth short of the target.

A compound of twelve + pounder. Historical artillery pieces were commonly named by the weight of the solid shot they fired rather than by bore diameter; the same word could therefore denote the gun or its projectile.

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