embrasure

Meanings

1. Any of the indentations between the merlons of a battlement; an opening in a wall or parapet through which ordnance can be fired.
2. Any small protected space.
3. The slanting indentation in a wall for a door or window, such that the space is larger on the inside than the outside.
4. An embrace.

Etymology

From French embrasure, from embras(er) + -ure, from Old French embrasure (“cut at a slant, make a groove or furrow”), from em- + braser (“cut at a slant”).