embolon

Noun

embolon (plural embola)

1. A blood clot or swelling, particularly one that blocks an artery; an embolus.
2. (historical) A battering ram on a warship.
   • The chief warlike engines used in the Grecian ships, were the Embolon, the Catastromata, and the Delphin. […] The Embolon was a beak of wood fortified with brass, which projected from the lower part of the prow, so as to pierce the enemy's ships under water.1824, C[hristopher] Irving, A Catechism of Grecian Antiquities; being an Account of the Religion, Government, Judicial Proceedings, Military and Naval Affairs, Dress, Food, Baths, Exercises...
3. (historical) A military formation, usually shaped like a wedge.
   • Xenophon, it is true, ſays, word for word, in his account of the battle of Mantinea, that "Epaminondas formed an embolon of infantry, which which he advanced to ſhock the enemy, as one galley does another with its beak." […] In this paſſage, I cannot think the word embolon means any more than a...1781 November, “A System of Tactics, practical, theoretical and historical. Translated from the French of M. Joly de Maizeroy, by Thomas Mante, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. 13s. boards. Cadell.”, in The...
   • Suddenly Alexander formed the left front of the phalanx into a wedge (embolon) and charged the Dardanians on the nearest slopes.2001, N[icholas] G[eoffrey] L[emprière] Hammond with F[rank] W[illiam] Walbank, A History of Macedonia, volumes III (336–167 B.C.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 44
4. (archaic, rare) Anything wedge-shaped.
   • The machine represented in the frontispiece to this work, was invented for Mrs. Berkley to flog gentlemen upon, in the spring of 1828. […] There is a print in Mrs. Berkley's memoirs, representing a man upon it quite naked. A woman is sitting in a chair exactly under it, with her bosom, belly, and...1877, Pisanus Fraxi [pseudonym; Henry Spencer Ashbee], “Introduction”, in Index Librorum Prohibitoru[m]: Bio- Biblio- Icono- graphical and Critical Notes on Curious and Uncommon Books, London...
   • For the protection of the marble's fine texture, surfaces subject to weathering (e.g. antae) were covered in a coloured wash. Dove-tail clamps with an embolon bind the treasury's blocks; similar clamps without an embolon bind the ashlars of the stereobate.2000, Elena C. Partida, The Treasuries at Delphi [Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature, Pocket-book; 160], Jonsered, Sweden: Paul Åströms Förlag, →OCLC, page 36