Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The shattering effect of the sudden release of energy in an explosion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun the shattering or crushing effect of a sudden release of energy as in an explosion; -- used especially as a measure of such a shattering power, applied to high explosives.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
shattering effect of theenergy released in anexplosion .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the shattering or crushing effect of a sudden release of energy as in an explosion
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French, from brisant, present participle of briser, to break, from Old French brisier, from Vulgar Latin *brisiāre, perhaps of Celtic origin.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French brisant, present participle of briser ("to break").
Support
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Examples
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This is supposed to be 30% more powerful than dynamite containing 60% nitroglycerin, and has 30% more brisance.
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It isn't exactly strength or hardness or toughness or resilience or brisance -- maybe a combination of all five.
The Galaxy Primes 1927
vara commented on the word brisance
"One explanation was that half-filled acetylene tanks wrapped around the explosives not only served to enhance the brisance of the charge - the destructive fragmentation effect - but also to ensure the obliteration of the explosives along with the driver and detonator." Robert Baer, See No Evil, p67.
December 8, 2006