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RICOCHET , a military See also: term expressing the rebound of a projectile that strikes on a hard See also:surface. The origin of the See also:French word ricochet is unknown. Its earliest known use (14th and 15th centuries) was in the sense of " repetition," e.g. chanson du ricochet, " an oft-told See also:tale." Hence it came to be applied to the rebound of a See also:flat See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone skimmed along the surface of See also:water, known familiarly in See also:English as " ducks and drakes," and so finally in the military sense defined above, which found its way into the English See also:language.
The use of the now obsolete " ricochet See also:fire " in See also:war is well illustrated by " ducks and drakes." The shot, striking the ground at a small See also:angle, described for the See also:remainder of its course a See also:succession of leaps and falls. The See also:discovery of this See also:species of fire, usually attributed to See also:Vauban (See also:siege of See also:Ath in 1697), had the greatest See also:influence both on sieges and on operations in the See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field. In siege warfare, ricochet, especially when combined with See also:enfilade, i.e. when directed along the enemy's See also:line of See also:defence, soon became the See also:principal weapon of the besieger, and with the See also:system of See also:parallels (q.v.) gave the attack a superiority so See also:complete that a siege came to be considered as the most
certain operation of war. Enfilade fire by itself was neutralized by traverses (q.v.) in the defences, but by the new method a shot could be so aimed as to skip over each successive See also:traverse and thus to See also:search ground that was immune from See also:direct fire. The application of ricochet fire to operations in the field came somewhat later. In the 18th See also:century field See also:artillery, which was not, before See also:Napoleon's See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time, sufficiently See also:mobile to See also:close with the enemy, relied principally upon the ricochet of See also:round shot, which, sweeping a considerable See also:depth of ground, took effect upon several successive lines of hostile troops. But once artillery was able to gallop up to the enemy and to use its far more terrible close-range projectile, See also:case-shot, ricochet fire came to be used less and less, until finally, with the See also:general See also:adoption of See also:- SHELL
- SHELL (O. Eng. scell, scyll, cf. Du. sceel, shell, Goth. skalja, tile; the word means originally a thin flake,. cf. Swed. skalja, to peel off; it is allied to " scale " and " skill," from a root meaning to cleave, divide, separate)
shell (which, of course, burst at the first contact with the ground), the round shot disappeared altogether from the See also:battle-field. Similarly in siege warfare, as soon as high-angle fire with shells became sufficiently accurate, there was no further need of round shot and ricochet.
The term " ricochet " is now only applied, in See also:modern See also:rifle See also:shooting, to the graze of a See also:bullet that has struck See also:short. A modern bullet that has ricochetted inflicts a very severe See also: wound, as its See also:nickel or other hard envelope is torn and jagged by its contact with the ground. With its high remaining velocity it is dangerous even after more than one ricochet, except at extreme ranges.
End of Article: RICOCHET
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