All along the wall there was a protected pathway for the defenders to stand, and machicolations through which boiling oil or lead, or heated sand could be poured on the heads of the attacking force.
"Vanishing England"
P. H. Ditchfield
Around the top of the tower is a series of machicolations, or openings between supporting corbels, through which the besieged, in the old days, could drop stones and pour molten lead and red-hot ashes and such-like things down upon the assailants, and it is in the sill of one of these openings that the famous Blarney stone is fixed.
"The Charm of Ireland"
Burton Egbert Stevenson
All the roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and sentry-boxes.
"English Villages"
P. H. Ditchfield