burrel shot

English

Etymology

Either from annoying the enemy like a burrel fly, or, less probably, from French bourreler (“to sting, torture”).

Noun

burrel shot (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) A mixture of shot, nails, stones, pieces of old iron, etc., fired from a cannon at short range, in an emergency.
    • 2021 March 15, Kevin F. Kiley, Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars: A Concise Dictionary, 1792–1815, Frontline Books, →ISBN, page 1806:
      Burrel shot: this round consisted of small bullets, nails, and stones, discharged from any piece of ordnance.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “burrel shot”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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