Definition of "mangonel" []

• A military engine used during the Middle Ages for hurling stones and other 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.

• "Protectionism is such a political dead duck here that it would provide a very useful piece of ammunition for the Eurosceptic mangonel."
• "I hope Santa will bring me a bushmaster carbon-series A3 .243 AR-15 with a 20 '' barrel, birdcage suppressor and backup mangonel iron sights."
• "The besiegers on the ridge took the opportunity to run their heaviest mangonel forward clear of the trees, and let loose all the heaviest stones and cases of iron rubble at the defences, raising their aim to pound incessantly at the timber brattice, more vulnerable by far than the solid masonry of the wall."