mortar

CEFRC1

/ˈmɔːtə(ɹ)/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A mixture used to join bricks or stones together.

  2. 02

    noun

    A short gun that fires shells at a high angle.

Examples

  • I need to buy a mortar and pestle to grind garbanzo beans for authentic hummus.

  • We can build a wall with bricks and mortar.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle.

  2. A short, heavy, large-bore cannon designed for indirect fire at very steep trajectories.

  3. A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks.

More examples

In context

  • The insurgents snuck up close and mortared the base last night.

  • The holy hearth! If any earthly and material thing, or rather a divine idea embodied in brick and mortar, might be supposed to possess the permanence of moral truth, it was this.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The mason used blank to bind the bricks together in the wall.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English morter, from Old French mortier, from Latin mortārium. Doublet of mortarium.