mortar

«mortar» in Mova's judaism dictionary: a mixture of sand, cement or lime and water used to stick… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (mortar, a mortar, mortars)

meaning for a pupil

1) Mortar is a mixture of sand, cement or lime and water used to stick bricks or stones together. tree →

2) A mortar is a strong bowl in which you crush things with a pestle. tree →

3) A mortar is also a short gun that fires shells high into the air, used in war. tree →

4) A mortarboard is a flat square hat worn at graduations. tree →

sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it means the plaster used on a house, and in the tale of Babel it means the sticky tar that held bricks together. The prophets use it for clay trodden for bricks. In Proverbs it is also a bowl in which grain is pounded with a pestle. Interpretation: A house with spreading mold (tzara'at) has its stones and plaster replaced. Tradition says this may be a spiritual warning, not just a building problem. In the primary lessons: In design and technology and building; in cooking and science (mortar and pestle); in news about war. Phrases: bricks and mortar, mortar and pestle.

examples

• And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house. (Torah LEV.14.42, JPS 1917) tree →
• And they said one to another: 'Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. (Torah GEN.11.3, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place. (Torah LEV.14.41, JPS 1917) tree →
• Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle among groats, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. (Writings PRO.27.22, JPS 1917) tree →
• Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, lay hold of the brickmould. (Prophets NAM.3.14, JPS 1917) tree →
• 'Take great stones in thy hand, and hide them in the mortar in the framework, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; (Prophets JER.43.9, JPS 1917) tree →
• The builder spread mortar between the bricks. tree →
• Grind the spices with a mortar and pestle. tree →
• Mortar holds the old wall together. tree →
• The news reported mortar fire in the city. tree →
• The mortar dried hard overnight. tree →
• Graduates threw their mortarboards in the air. tree →
• Out of the trunk he made a mortar. tree →

note

Building mortar is uncountable («some mortar»); a bowl or gun is countable («a mortar, two mortars»). «Bricks and mortar» means real buildings, as opposed to online.

In the corpora

• Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle among groats, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «mortar» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.