MINE, in the military art, denotes a subterraneous canal or passage, dug under the wall or rampart of a fortification, intended to be blown up by gun-powder.
The alley or passage of a mine is commonly about four feet square; at the end of this is the chamber of the mine, which is a cavity about five feet in width and in length, and about six feet in height; and here the gun-powder is stowed. The faucille of the mine is the train, for which there is always a little aperture left. There are various kinds of mines, which acquire various names, as royal mines, serpentine mines, forked mines, according as their passages are straight, oblique, winding, &c.