(military) A type of cruiser (the warship) common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, carrying moderately-heavy main guns and with armor protecting the sides and upper and lower decks, but lighter and with thinner armor and less powerful guns than a battleship. A mainstay of battle fleets around the turn of the 20th century, but displaced from this role by the more powerful battle-cruiser after ca. 1908, becoming obsolescent by the time of WWI.
