Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RIC'O-CHET, n. [Fr. duck and drake.]

In gunnery, the firing of guns, mortars or howitzers with small charges, and elevated a few degrees, so as to carry the balls or shells just over the parapet, and cause them to roll along the opposite rampart. This is called ricochet-firing, and the batteries are called ricochet-batteries. – Encyc.