BRACKETS, in Gunnery, are the cheeks of the carriage of a mortar: they are made of strong planks of wood, of almost a semicircular figure, and bound round with thick iron plates; they are fixed to the beds by four bolts, which are called bed-bolts; they rise up on
each side of the mortar, and serve to keep her at any elevation by means of some strong iron bolts, called bracket-bolts, which go through these cheeks or brackets.