History
The etymology of embrasure expresses "widening".
By the 19th century, a distinction was made between embrasures being used for cannon, and loopholes being used for musketry. In both cases, the opening was normally made wider on the inside of the wall than the outside. The outside was made as narrow as possible (slightly wider than the muzzle of the weapon intended to use it) so as to afford the most difficult possible shot to attackers firing back, but the inside had to be wider in order to enable the weapon to be swiveled around so as to aim over a reasonably large arc.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
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