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crenellate

UK/ˈkɹɛnɛleɪt/US/ˈkɹɛnəˌleɪt/
verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: crenellated

To crenellate is to build notches into the top of a wall. Crenellate the tower.

In England a licence was needed to crenellate a house, which made it a mark of status. To crenellate a wall gives cover to stand behind and gaps to shoot through.

The original uploader was Tianxiaozhang at Chinese Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of crenellate

  1. 1verbcrenellateTo build notches into the top of a wall.C2

    “He was licensed to crenellate the manor in 1348.”

crenellate is a building.

Also accepted in games: crenelate

Where it comes from

French creneler comes from crenel, a notch, from Latin crena, a groove.

  1. Old French

    crenel

  2. English

    crenel

  3. English, today

    crenellate

Built from

  • cren · Old French — notch

From créneler + -ate. Créneler is derived from Old French - crenel + -er), further from crene + -el, perhaps related to Latin crēna (“incision; notch”) or of gaulish origin. Equivalent to crenel + -ate. crenel comes from Old French crenel (> modern French créneau), diminutive of cren (“notch”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

crenellate in the wild

  • The hall was built for Sir Edmund Bedingfeld who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1482.

    Oxburgh Hall

  • In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property.

    Licence to crenellate

  • Licences to crenellate were issued from the 12th to 16th centuries.

    Licence to crenellate

  • In 1449 and again in 1460 Richard Beauchamp, Treasurer to Henry VI, was given licence to crenellate his house on the site.

    Bronsil Castle

  • Sir John Charlton was licensed to crenellate his dwelling at Charlton in 1316.

    Charlton Castle

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the cren family

cranny

crenellate — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others