battlement. Parapet with higher and lower alternate parts. The indentations between the higher parts are the carnels, crenels, embrasures, loops, or wheelers, and the uprights between the indentations are the cops, kneelers, or merlons: a crenellated or embattled wall is therefore one with battlements, on Perpendicular churches often ornamented with quatrefoils. Miniature decorative battlements occur in a number of places in architecture including the transoms of tracery and the capitals of piers in the Perpendicular style of Gothic: even Tudor chimney-pots have them. An almena is a merlon with sloping, notched sides. A Guelphic or swallowtail battlement, common in medieval Italian architecture, has V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect.

bat·tle·ment / ˈbatlmənt/ • n. (usu. battlements) a parapet at the top of a wall, usually of a fort or castle, that has regularly spaced, squared openings for shooting through.DERIVATIVES: bat·tle·ment·ed adj.

battlement

battlement XIV. contemp. with †battled — pp. of OF. batailler fortify with batailles fixed or movable turrets of defence. See -MENT