Paixhann.
/ˈpeɪksən/, U.S. /ˈpɛkˌsæn/ Naval Gunnery (now historical).
I. Compounds.
1. attributive and in the genitive. Designating armaments devised by Paixhans and originally used by the French navy; spec. a system using large-calibre weapons to fire shells rather than shot.
ΚΠ
1828 Foreign Q. Rev. 2 590 Two distinct Commissions..have..expressed a decided opinion in favour of M. Paixhans's bomb-cannon, and of the propriety of admitting them, in small number, on board of ships of the line.]
1832 Daily Evening Transcript (Boston) 2 Jan. 2/2 The Paixhan's cannon..sends 160 iron balls weighing half a pound each to a distance of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet.
1858 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 17 Dec. 66/2 The introduction of Paixhans shells into naval warfare.
1937 C. W. Elliott Winfield Scott 459 Three long thirty-twos and three eight-inch Paixhain guns were brought ashore and set up, with back-breaking labor.
1998 Amer. Hist. Rev. 103 1731/1 Effective American light artillery and Paixhan siege guns overcame Mexican forces in the north.
II. Simple uses.
2. A weapon of this type.
ΚΠ
1846 Dollar Newspaper (Philadelphia) 15 July 2/2 She will also carry out twenty guns of large calibre, big Paixhans or Bomfords.
1861 Charleston (S. Carolina) Mercury (Electronic text) 13 Nov. The barbette of Castle Pinckney, which, with a good supply of rifle cannon, Dahlgrens or Columbiads, or Paixhans, can enter the combat with powerful arms.
1862 T. Winthrop Life in Open Air 209 They build their log-station, pile up barrels of pork, beans, and molasses, like mortars and Paixhans in an arsenal.
1997 Washington Q. (Nexis) 20 39 The French developed the first..shell gun—the paixhans—the first machine gun.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1832