A military dictionary

by William Duane

LOCKING plates, in artillery, are thin flat pieces of iron nailed on the sides of a held carriage, where the wheels touch it in turning, to prevent the wearing the wood in those places. See [Carriage].

LOCKSPIT, in field fortification, a small cut or trench made with a spade, about a foot wide, to mark out the first lines of a work.

To LODGE ARMS. A word of command which is used on guards and pickets. When a guard has closed its ranks, and the men are to place their arms in front of the guard-house or quarter-guard, according to circumstances, the commanding officer gives the words port arms, to the right or right about, (as the case may be) face. Lodge Arms.

LODGMENT, in military business, is a work made by the besiegers in some part of a fortification, after the besieged have been driven out, for the purpose of maintaining it, and to be covered from the enemy’s fire. It also means possession of an enemy’s works.

When a lodgment is to be made on the glacis, covert way, or in a breach, there must be a great provision made of fascines, sand bags, gabions, wool packs, &c. in the trenches; and during the action, the pioneers (under the direction of an engineer) with fascines, sand bags, &c. should be making the lodgment, in order to form a covering, while the grenadiers are storming the covert way, &c.

LOGARITHMS, the indexes of the ratios of numbers, one to another; of which the following is a concise account.

Of arithmetical progression.—By arithmetical progression is meant a series of terms, each of which exceeds, or is exceeded by, that which precedes it by the same given number.

For instance, the series 1 . 3 . 5 . 7 . 9 . 11 is in arithmetical progression, since each of the terms exceeds that which precedes it by the same number, which is 2. The series 11 . 9 . 7 . 5 . 3 . 1 is also in arithmetical progression, since each of the terms is exceeded by that which precedes it, and by the same number.

Of geometrical progression.—Geometrical progression is that in which each term of a series contains the preceding term, or is itself contained in it, the same number of times throughout.

For instance, the series 1 . 3 . 9 . 27 . 81 . 243, &c. is in geometrical progression, since each term contains that which precedes it the same number of times, which is 3.