heavy artillery
Massive military firepower
Heavy artillery refers to large-caliber military weapons—cannons, howitzers, and similar ordnance requiring crews and transport vehicles rather than carried by individual soldiers.
The term extends figuratively to powerful resources deployed in any conflict or competition: When negotiations stalled, they brought in the heavy artillery—their top lawyers and a PR firm.
cannon
Large mounted gun
- howitzerShort-barreled artillery piece
- mortarGrinding bowl or binder
- field gunPortable military cannon
siege gun · bombardment · barrage · shelling · ordnance · munitions · caliber · gunnery · battery · emplacement
big guns
Influential, powerful people
- powerhouseSource of great energy
- cloutInformal power or punch
- leverageBorrowed capital for amplified returns
influence · dominance · authority · firepower · impact · force · pressure · weight · command · supremacy
- artillerycannons, cannon, howitzers, howitzer, mortars
- military tacticstactics, flanking, maneuver, ambush, battle formations
- gunnerygunnery, aiming, cannon, firing, gunner
- Union ArmyUnion Army, federal troops, bluecoats, Army of the Potomac, regulars
heavy artillerysmall arms
Handheld military weapons
light weapons · sidearms · pistols · handguns · pocket pistol
heavy, heavily, heaviness, heavyset, heavier, heavyweight, artillery, heavy-handed, heaviest