from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ricochet \Ric`o*chet"\, n. [F.]
1. A rebound or skipping, as of a bullet bouncing off a hard
surface, or off the ground when a gun is fired at a low
angle of elevation, or of a flat stone thrown along the
surface of water.
[1913 Webster]
2. A peculiar gait used by certain animals such as the
kangaroo who move by a type of bouncing motion.
[PJC]
Kangaroos and wallabies (macropodids) as well as
kangaroo mice and jerboas, locate themselves
differently, though, and do not use the forelimbs at
all in their distinctive modus locatus, to which
Muybridge applied the term "ricochet", . . . --Jaime
A. Headden
[PJC]
{Ricochet firing} (Mil.), the firing of guns or howitzers,
usually with small charges, at an elevation of only a few
degrees, so as to cause the balls or shells to bound or
skip along the ground.
[1913 Webster]