Definition

1. Noun:

   • A bowl-shaped vessel: A hard bowl, typically made of stone, ceramic, or wood, in which substances are crushed or ground into a powder using a club-shaped tool called a pestle.
   • A building material: A mixture, often of cement or lime with sand and water, used in masonry to bond bricks, stones, or other building blocks together.
   • A type of artillery: A muzzle-loading, short-barreled cannon that fires shells at high angles over relatively short distances.

2. Verb:

   • To apply mortar: To join or plaster bricks, stones, or other materials using mortar as a bonding agent.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Bowl):

  • Crush the garlic and salt together in a mortar.
  • The pharmacist used a mortar and pestle to prepare the medicine.

• Noun (Building Material):

  • The bricklayer applied fresh mortar between the bricks.
  • The old wall's mortar was crumbling and needed repointing.

• Noun (Weapon):

  • The soldiers fired a mortar at the enemy position.
  • Mortar fire could be heard in the distance.

• Verb:

  • It took a week to mortar all the stones for the new patio.
  • The instruction was to mortar the wall carefully to ensure it was level.

Advanced Usage

• "Mortar and pestle": A phrase referring to the pair of tools used together for grinding.

  • The recipe calls for spices ground with a mortar and pestle.

• "Bed of mortar": In construction, a layer of mortar on which masonry units are laid.

  • Each brick must be set on a solid bed of mortar.

• "Mortar attack" / "Mortar shelling": Military terms describing an assault using mortar fire.

  • The base came under mortar attack at dawn.

Variants and Related Words

• Mortarboard (n): An academic cap with a flat, square top.

  • The graduates tossed their mortarboards into the air.

• Mortared (adj): Describing a structure whose components are joined with mortar.

  • The mortared stone wall has stood for centuries.

Synonyms

• Noun (Bowl): Grinder, crusher.
• Noun (Building Material): Cement, grout, plaster.
• Noun (Weapon): Howitzer (though technically different, often used in similar contexts).

Related Phrases

• "Bricks and mortar": A phrase referring to physical buildings or traditional business premises, as opposed to online or virtual operations.
  • The company is expanding its online presence while maintaining its bricks-and-mortar stores.

Idioms

• "To be mortar": This is not a standard idiom. The word is primarily used in its literal senses or in the common phrase "bricks and mortar."

Noun

1. a bowl-shaped vessel in which substances can be ground and mixed with a pestle
2. used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall
3. a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range

Verb

1. plaster with mortar
   • mortar the wall