mortar

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mortar1

▶noun

• 1 a short smooth-bore gun for firing bombs at high angles.

• 2 a cup-shaped receptacle in which ingredients are crushed or ground in cooking or pharmacy.

▶verb attack or bombard with bombs fired from a mortar.

– origin OE, from OFr. mortier, from L. mortarium.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mortar2

▶noun a mixture of lime with cement, sand, and water, used in building to bond bricks or stones. ▶verb fix or join using mortar.

– derivatives
mortarless adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. mortier, from L. mortarium, prob. a transferred sense of the word denoting a container (see mortar1).