RICOCHET  , a military See also:

• TERM

term expressing the rebound of a projectile that strikes on a hard See also:

• SURFACE

surface . The origin of the See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

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 (O.Eng. talu, number, account, story; the word is common to many Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Zahl, number, Erzahlung, narrative, Du. taal, speech, language)

tale." Hence it came to be applied to the rebound of a See also:

• FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

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

water, known familiarly in See also:

• ENGLISH

English as " ducks and drakes," and so finally in the military sense defined above, which found its way into the English See also:

• LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language . The use of the now obsolete " ricochet See also:

• FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire " in See also:

• WAR
• WAR (O. Eng. werre, Fr. guerre, of Teutonic origin; cf. O.H.G. werran, to confound)

war is well illustrated by " ducks and drakes." The shot, striking the ground at a small See also:

• ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle, described for the See also:

• REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder of its course a See also:

• SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of leaps and falls . The See also:

• DISCOVERY

discovery of this See also:

• SPECIES

species of fire, usually attributed to See also:

• VAUBAN

Vauban (See also:

• SIEGE (0. Fr. sege, siege, mod. siege, seat, ultimately from sedere, to sit, cf. Class. Lat. obsidium, a siege)

siege of See also:

• ATH, or AATII

Ath in 1697), had the greatest See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

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 (a French word, from enfiler, to thread, and so to pass through from end to end)

enfilade, i.e. when directed along the enemy's See also:

• LINE

line of See also:

• DEFENCE
• DEFENCE (Lat. defendere, to defend)

defence, soon became the See also:

• PRINCIPAL

principal weapon of the besieger, and with the See also:

• SYSTEM

system of See also:

• PARALLELS

parallels (q.v.) gave the attack a superiority so See also:

• COMPLETE

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

traverse and thus to See also:

• SEARCH, or VISIT AND SEARCH

search ground that was immune from See also:

• DIRECT

direct fire . The application of ricochet fire to operations in the field came somewhat later . In the 18th See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century field See also:

• ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of war, probably comes from Late Lat. articulum, dim. of ars, art, cf. " engine " from ingenium, or of artus, joint)

artillery, which was not, before See also:

• NAPOLEON

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

mobile to See also:

• CLOSE
• CLOSE (from Lat. clausum, shut)
• CLOSE, MAXWELL HENRY (1822-1903)

close with the enemy, relied principally upon the ricochet of See also:

• ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round shot, which, sweeping a considerable See also:

• DEPTH

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
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case-shot, ricochet fire came to be used less and less, until finally, with the See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general See also:

• ADOPTION (Lat. adoptio, for adoptalio, from adoptare, to choose for oneself)

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

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

modern See also:

• RIFLE

rifle See also:

• SHOOTING

shooting, to the graze of a See also:

• BULLET (Fr. boulet, diminutive of boule, ball)

bullet that has struck See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short .

A modern bullet that has ricochetted inflicts a very severe See also:

• WOUND (O. Eng. wund,connected with a Teutonic verb, meaning to strive, fight, suffer, seen in O. Eng. winnan, whence Eng. " win ")

wound, as its See also:

• NICKEL
• NICKEL (symbol Ni, atomic weight 58.68 (0=16))

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 .