- 1[uncountable] large, heavy guns which are often moved on wheels The town is under heavy artillery fire. artillery attacks/barrages/shells Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivefield, heavy, anti-aircraft, … artillery + nounattack, barrage, bombardment, … See full entry
- 2the artillery [singular] the section of an army trained to use these guns He was a captain in the Royal Artillery. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivefield, heavy, anti-aircraft, … artillery + nounattack, barrage, bombardment, … See full entry Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French artillerie, from artiller, alteration of atillier ‘equip, arm’, probably a variant of atirier, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + tire ‘rank, order’. Wordfinderarmyarmy, artillery, battalion, command, defend, invade, officer, regiment, tactics, weaponExtra examples The soldiers of the artillery train had panicked and cut the traces of their horses. nuclear artillery units A stray artillery shell struck the hospital. The army launched a heavy artillery barrage against enemy positions.
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