A
machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting
corbels of a
battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a
defensive wall. The design was adopted in the
Middle Ages in Europe when
Norman crusaders returned from the Holy Land. A machicolated battlement projects outwards from the supporting wall in order to facilitate this. A
hoarding is a similar structure made of wood, usually temporarily constructed in the event of a siege. Advantages of machicolations over wooden hoardings include the greater strength and fire resistance of stone. The word derives from the
Old French word
machecol, mentioned in Medieval Latin as
machecollum, probably from Old French
machier 'crush', 'wound' and
col 'neck'.
Machicolate is only recorded in the 18th century in English, but a verb
machicollare is attested in Anglo-Latin. The Spanish word denoting this structure,
matacán, is similarly composed from "matar canes" meaning roughly "killing dogs", the latter being a reference to
infidels.