A type of cannon ammunition consisting of multiple iron balls bundled together that scatter when fired, used especially in naval warfare.
From 'grape' plus 'shot'; named for its resemblance to a cluster of grapes when bundled. The term emerged in naval military vocabulary around the 18th century and likely refers to the visual similarity of the ammunition cluster.
Grapeshot gets its name from looking like a bunch of grapes, but it was horrifyingly effective—when fired, it spread like shotgun pellets and could devastate both sails and crews. Napoleon famously used grapeshot on civilians in Paris, showing how weapon names can sound almost poetic while describing terrible violence.
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