n. 1. A small, round, medium-hot dried chili. 2. A rounded, knoblike projection behind the breech of a muzzleloading cannon. [Spanish, bell, rattle, from Old Provençal cascavel, from Vulgar Latin *cascābellus, probably from *quassicāre, to rattle, crack, from Latin quassāre, to shatter; see SQUASH2. Sense 1, from the sound of the loose seeds in the dried fruit.] |
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