late 14c., "warlike munitions," especially ballistic engines, from Anglo-French artillerie, Old French artillerie (14c.), from artillier "to provide with engines of war" (13c.), which probably is from Medieval Latin articulum "art, skill," a diminutive of Latin ars (genitive artis) "art." But some would connect it to Latin articulum "joint," others to Latin apere "to attach, join," and still others to Old French atillier "to equip," altered by influence of arte.

Originally any engine for discharging missiles (catapults, slings, bows, etc.); the modern restriction to "ordnance, large guns" is from 16c. Technically, "all firearms discharged from carriages," as opposed to small arms, discharged by hand. As a branch of the army, from 1786.

"person skilled in gunnery," 1778; see artillery + -ist. Artilleryman is from 1630s. Middle English had artiller "maker of arms" (mid-15c.), from Old French artiller.

"a continued discharge of artillery," 1650s, from cannon + -ade. As a verb, "attack with artillery," from 1660s. Compare French canonnade (16c.), Italian cannonata. Related: Cannonaded; cannonading.

type of cast-iron smooth-bore naval artillery cannon, by 1854, named for its inventor, U.S. naval ordnance officer John A. Dahlgren (1809-1870), who was of Swedish ancestry.

also whiz-bang, whizz-bang, 1915, originally a soldier's name for a type of German artillery shell in World War I, so called by the Allied troops in reference to its characteristic sound. From whizz + bang (v.).

1860, a rangefinder for surveying and artillery, from French télémètre (1852), from télé- "far" (see tele-) + mètre "meter" (see -meter). Used from 1953 for a pay-as-you-watch TV system with a coin box attached to the set. Related: Telemetry.

1753, "coming in as an occupant," present-participle adjective from in (adv.) + come (v.). Of game, from 1892; transferred in World War I to artillery; as a warning cry of incoming shellfire, it seems to date to the U.S. war in Vietnam (1968).

1530s, "action of battering," in law, "the unlawful beating of another," from French batterie, from Old French baterie "beating, thrashing, assault" (12c.), from batre "to beat," from Latin battuere (see batter (v.)).

The meaning shifted in French from "bombardment" ("heavy blows" upon city walls or fortresses) to "unit of artillery" (a sense recorded in English from 1550s). The extension to "electrical cell" (1748, in Ben Franklin) is perhaps from the artillery sense via notion of "discharges" of electricity. In Middle English, bateri meant only "forged metal ware." In obsolete baseball jargon battery was the word for "pitcher and catcher" considered as a unit (1867, originally only the pitcher).

late 14c., "action of coming in," from incoming (adj.), which is attested from 1753. As "that which is coming in" from 1892, originally of game; transferred in World War I to artillery; as a warning cry of incoming shellfire, it seems to date to the U.S. war in Vietnam (1968).

1859, "action of barring; man-made barrier in a stream" (for irrigation, etc.), from French barrer "to stop," from barre "bar," from Old French barre (see bar (n.1)).

The artillery sense is attested by 1916, from World War I French phrase tir de barrage "barrier fire" intended to isolate the objective. As a verb by 1917. Related: Barraged; barraging.