Definition of "culverin" []

• An early, crudely made musket. (noun)
• A long heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Culverin: The culverin is a medium cannon firing an 18 lb shot."
• "Like many gun names, the word "culverin" has a metaphorical meaning."
• "French had just succeeded in taking across the last piece of artillery, a long "culverin" [1] (cannon), named _Madame de Forli_, [2] which had been re-taken from the Spaniards at Ravenna, was so heavy that it sank the first boat, and the poor soldiers, seeing they were lost, escaped as best they could, but many were killed and others drowned."