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shrapnel Definition

shrap·nel (s̸hrapnəl)

noun

  1. an artillery shell filled with an explosive charge and many small metal balls, designed to explode in the air over the objective
  2. the balls scattered by such an explosion
  3. any fragments scattered by an exploding shell, bomb, etc.

Etymology: after H. Shrapnel (1761-1842), Brit general who invented it

shrapnel Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • collect: We were bombed rather a lot, but I enjoyed collecting shrapnel.
  • send: He persisted in sending shrapnel - a useless weapon in trench warfare.
  • have: By the time Cindy's year in Iraq was up, she had shrapnel in her arm.
  • fly: Yesterday they were content to rediscover the art of holding leads by beating Leeds in a match not short of flying shrapnel.
  • lodge: And Ken Stott's Philippe lapses regularly into unconsciousness due to shrapnel lodged in his brain.

Converse of subject

  • injure: A man was injured by shrapnel in High Street, Jarrow.
  • wound: Men watched their fellows being blown apart or dreadfully wounded by shrapnel.
  • hit: Thinking he had been hit by shrapnel I went over.
  • kill: During the night a twenty six year old man was killed by shrapnel from a grenade - the first death of the events.
  • damage: A house in South Shields was slightly damaged by shrapnel.

Adjective modifier

deadly: The blast ripped into the sides of buildings turning windows into blizzards of deadly shrapnel.

Modifies a noun

  • wound: He had received shrapnel wounds to his left shoulder.
  • shell: They devised the idea of placing an irritant chemical among the metal balls in a shrapnel shell.
  • bomb: They dropped 172 shells, many of which hit their target, plus several thousand shrapnel bombs.
  • ball: Artillery shell filled with shrapnel balls about 2cm in diameter.
  • damage: Shrapnel damage to the bridge can still be seen.
  • bullet: General Findlay, hit on the head by shrapnel bullet.

Noun used with modifier

mortar: It was a piece of mortar shrapnel, enough to just penetrate the skin and cause me some pain.

Preposition: from

  • shell: Seven patients were injured by shrapnel from shells, grenades or rockets, and all but two were soldiers.
  • bomb: The King was shown a piece of shrapnel from a bomb that fell on the Cathedral.

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