howitzer

Borrowed from Dutch houwitser, from German Haubitze, from Middle High German haufniz, from Czech houfnice, which was derived from houf (“flock, crowd”) +‎ -nice. The Czech noun houf comes from Middle High German hufe (“heap”), from Old High German hūfo.^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊ.ɪts.ə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊ.ɪts.əɹ/

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howitzer (plural howitzers)

1. A cannon that combines certain characteristics of field guns and mortars, delivering projectiles with medium velocities, usually with relatively high trajectories; normally a cannon with a tube length of 20 to 30 calibers.
2. (sports, rugby, ice hockey) A powerfully hit shot.
   • 2018 September 7, Tom English, “Scotland 0-4 Belgium”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Belgium took a little while to catch Scotland with the first of the howitzer blows, but when the first one landed there was a certainty of more. Many more.

• gun, field gun, mortar

howitzer (third-person singular simple present howitzers, present participle howitzering, simple past and past participle howitzered)

1. (transitive) To attack with a howitzer.

• indirect fire

• howitzer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “howitzer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.