shrapnel

Dictionary: shrap·nel (shrăp'nəl) pronunciation

n., pl., shrapnel.

Fragments from an exploded artillery shell, mine, or bomb.
1. A 19th-century artillery shell containing metal balls, designed to explode in the air above enemy troops.
2. The metal balls in such a weapon.

[After Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), British army officer.]

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: shrapnel

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Originally, a type of projectile invented by the British artillery officer Henry Shrapnel (1761 – 1842), containing small spherical bullets and an explosive charge to scatter the shot and fragments of the shell casing. A time fuse set off the explosive charge late in the shell's flight, when it was near opposing troops. The resulting hail of high-velocity debris was often lethal; it caused most of the artillery-inflicted wounds in World War I. In World War II a high-explosive bursting charge that fragmented the shell's iron casing made shrapnel balls unnecessary; the term shrapnel came to be used for the shell-casing fragments.

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US Military Dictionary: shrapnel

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[ܒ˜ræpnǝl]

ˈ˜ræpnǝl 1. an artillery shell designed to explode in mid-air with a lethal spray of metal projectiles.

2. fragments of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion.Also called shrap.

During the Civil War and Spanish-American War, shrapnel shells projected up to 350 pieces of metal and were capable of wounding or killing at up to 40 yards from the point of explosion. Shrapnel shells were discontinued by World War II. The shrapnel shell was invented by British general Henry Shrapnel.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Wikipedia: Shrapnel

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Look up shrapnel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Shrapnel may refer to:

Shrapnel shell, an anti-personnel artillery munition
Shrapnel (band) or Metal Church, a heavy metal band
Shrapnel (Band), an 80's glam/punk/power pop band
Shrapnel Games, a computer games publisher
Shrapnel (Transformers), a character in Transformers
Shrapnel (DC Comics), a DC Comics supervillain
Shrapnel (comic book), a forthcoming publication
Shrapnel Records, a music label

People with the surname

Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), British Army officer and inventor
Henry Jones Shrapnell (1792–1834), English anatomist
John Shrapnel (born 1942), English actor

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shrapnel". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

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shrapnel

People with the surname

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