From Britannica 11th Edition (1911) Merlon, in architecture, the solid part of an embattled parapet between the embrasures, sometimes pierced by loopholes. The word is French, adapted from Ital. merlone, possibly a shortened form of mergola, connected with Lat. mergae, pitchfork, or from a diminutive moerulus, from murus (moerus), a wall.
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