noun

1. a very hard bowl in which softer substances are ground or pounded to a powder with a pestle
2. any machine in which materials are ground or pounded

3. Etymology: Frmortier

   a short-barreled cannon with a low muzzle velocity, which hurls shells in a high trajectory
4. any of various similar devices, for shooting lifelines, flares, etc.

5. Etymology: ME morter < MFr mortier < L mortarium, a mixture of sand and lime: so called from the vessel in which it was made

   a mixture of cement or lime with sand and water, used between bricks or stones to bind them together in building, or as plaster

Etymology: ME mortere < OE mortere & OFr mortier, both < L mortarium, mixing vessel or trough < IE *mṛtos, pulverized < base *mer-, to rub: see morbid

transitive verb

1. to plaster or bind together with mortar
2. to attack with mortar shells