EMBRASURE

In Fortification, an opening made in the wall or parapet of a fortified place, or breast-work of a battery, through which the guns are fired. The embrasures are usually made about two and a half feet wide at the interior extremity, and eight or nine feet at the exterior; and the sole or lower surface is at the height of about two and a half feet above the platform on which the carriage of the gun is placed; but their forms and dimensions are of course varied, according to their position relatively to that of the point against which the fire is to be directed. [s. 410]