plural of Cruces

plural of cruel mistress

(idiomatic) Something which has both significant positive and negative aspects.

(military) A type of cruiser (the warship) common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, carrying a small number of moderately-heavy main guns plus a large secondary battery of smaller guns and with armor protecting the sides and upper and lower decks, but lighter and with thinner armor and less powerful guns than a battleship; a mainstay of battle fleets around the turn of the 20th century, but displaced from this role by the more powerful battlecruiser after ca. 1908, becoming obsolescent by the time of WWI.

Alternative spelling of armored cruiser

(military, nautical) A type of cruiser (the warship) carrying moderately-heavy main guns (although considerably lighter than those of a battleship) in armored turrets or other enclosures and having the machinery and magazine spaces protected by an armored lower deck, but leaving the sides of the ship unarmored (relying on the ship's coal bunkers to absorb hits to the sides of the hull) to save weight and allow for a high speed and long range; common in the late 19th century, but rendered obsolescent by the armored cruiser around 1900 as technological advances reduced the weight penalty of a side-mounted armor belt and made warships lacking belt armor increasingly vulnerable to enemy gunfire.

plural of crush depth

(transport) The maximum number of passengers that can physically fit within a transit vehicle without requiring severe contortions by said passengers.

plural of crush load

(nautical) The depth at which a submarine's pressure hull will collapse under external water pressure, causing the submarine to implode.