A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, burning objects or hot liquids (such as boiling oil or molten lead) could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. A machicolated battlement projects outwards from the supporting wall in order to facilitate this.
The word derives from the Old French word machicoller, derived from Old Provençal machacol, and ultimately from Latin macar (to crush) + collum (the neck)
A variant of machicolations set in the ceiling of a passage were also colloquially known as murder-holes.
