What is "artillery"

Artillery \Ar*til"ler*y\, n. [OE. artilrie, OF. artillerie, arteillerie, fr. LL. artillaria, artilleria, machines and apparatus of all kinds used in war, vans laden with arms of any kind which follow camps; F. artillerie great guns, ordnance; OF. artillier to work artifice, to fortify, to arm, prob. from L. ars, artis, skill in joining something, art. See Art.]

1. Munitions of war; implements for warfare, as slings, bows, and arrows. [Obs.]

   And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad.
   --1 Sam. xx. 40.

2. Cannon; great guns; ordnance, including guns, mortars, howitzers, etc., with their equipment of carriages, balls, bombs, and shot of all kinds.

   Note: The word is sometimes used in a more extended sense, including the powder, cartridges, matches, utensils, machines of all kinds, and horses, that belong to a train of artillery.

3. The men and officers of that branch of the army to which the care and management of artillery are confided.

4. The science of artillery or gunnery. --Campbell. Artillery park, or Park of artillery.

   1. A collective body of siege or field artillery, including the guns, and the carriages, ammunition, appurtenances, equipments, and persons necessary for working them.

   2. The place where the artillery is encamped or collected.

      Artillery train, or Train of artillery, a number of pieces of ordnance mounted on carriages, with all their furniture, ready for marching.

late 14c., "warlike munitions," from Anglo-French artillerie, Old French artillerie (14c.), from artillier "to provide with engines of war" (13c.), which probably is from Medieval Latin articulum "art, skill," diminutive of Latin ars (genitive artis) "art." But some would connect it with Latin articulum "joint," and still others with Old French atillier "to equip," altered by influence of arte. Sense of "engines for discharging missiles" (catapults, slings, bows, etc.) is from late 15c.; that of "ordnance, large guns" is from 1530s.

n. 1 Large cannon-like weapons, transportable and usually operated by more than one person. 2 An army unit that uses such weapons. 3 gunnery.

1. n. large but transportable armament [syn: heavy weapon, gun, ordnance]

2. an army unit that uses big guns [syn: artillery unit]

3. a means of persuading or arguing; "he used all his conversational weapons" [syn: weapon]

Artillery is a Danish thrash metal band. They participated in the early development of the genre, and their highly energetic, riff-centric and often fast-paced music is similar in style to that of Voivod, Coroner, Megadeth and Sabbat from the same era. After releasing three full-length albums and touring extensively throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Artillery disbanded in 1991, but reunited seven years later, only to disband once again in 2000. However, they reformed again in 2007 and are still together today.

Artillery refers to any engine used for the discharge of large projectiles during war.

Artillery may also refer to:

• Naval artillery, referring to any engine used for the discharge of large projectiles from ships
• Artillery (computer game), a loosely defined subgenre of turn-based strategy computer and video games
• Artillery (band), a Danish thrash metal band
• Artillery, a song by Infected Mushroom
• Artillery (magazine), an American contemporary art magazine

Artillery is an American contemporary art magazine based in Los Angeles. Features and exhibition reviews are often L.A. centric, yet increasingly dedicated to coverage of the arts worldwide, with contributors based in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Berlin and London. The bi-monthly publication is available in both print and web editions. The print version is distributed and for sale via subscription and can also be found in bookstores, museum shops, art galleries and other locations. Print circulation is currently at about 50,000 with a readership of about 35,000. Artillery also hosts public events such as live debates, poetry readings and book signings in major cities as well as at art fairs.

Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry's small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an army's total firepower.

In its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, the word "artillery" has largely meant cannon, and in contemporary usage, it usually refers to shell-firing guns, howitzers, mortars, rockets and guided missiles. In common speech, the word artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings, although these assemblages are more properly called "equipments". However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth: the United States uses "artillery piece", but most English-speaking armies use "gun" and "mortar". The projectiles fired are typically either "shot" (if solid) or "shell" (if not). "Shell" is a widely used generic term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions.

By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines. In some armies one arm has operated field, coast, anti-aircraft artillery and some anti-tank artillery, in others these have been separate arms and in some nations coast has been a naval or marine responsibility. In the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms. The widespread adoption of indirect fire in the early 20th century introduced the need for specialist data for field artillery, notably survey and meteorological, in some armies provision of these are the responsibility of the artillery arm.

Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships. The early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft: anti-aircraft guns.

Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, and has been since at least the early Industrial Revolution. The majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was "the God of War".