Definition of "artillery" []

• Large-caliber weapons, such as cannon, howitzers, and missile launchers, that are operated by crews. (noun)
• The branch of an army that specializes in the use of such weapons. (noun)
• The science of the use of guns; gunnery. (noun)
• Weapons, such as catapults, arbalests, and other early devices, used for discharging missiles. (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.

• "Then there was an ugly confrontation between members of the battalion's Alpha and Charlie batteries -- the term artillery units use instead of "companies" -- that threatened to turn into a brawl involving three dozen soldiers, and required the base police to intervene."
• "The programme of our artillery is a very wonderful one."
• "Then there was an ugly confrontation between members of the battalion’s Alpha and Charlie batteries — the term artillery units use instead of “companies” — that threatened to turn into a brawl involving three dozen soldiers, and required the base police to intervene."