from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Alternative spelling of abatis.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. See abatis.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a line of defense consisting of a barrier of felled or live trees with branches (sharpened or with barbed wire entwined) pointed toward the enemy
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Msuwa, a village situated in a populous district, having in its vicinity no less than five other villages, each fortified by stakes and thorny abattis, with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were so many Percys and Douglasses.
As they swarm with vermin by night and flies by day23, I frequently made strong objections to these favourite localities: the utmost conceded to me was a fresh enclosure added by a smaller hedge to the outside abattis of the more populous cow-kraals.
At intervals around and inside the outer abattis are built the
The abattis has usually four entrances which are choked up with heaps of bushes at night.
On both sides are little square plots fenced against sheep and goats by a rude abattis of stripped and dead boughs,
Washington could see that these works had stout abattis and chevaux-de-frise and that from them, probably, a good view could be had both of the plain near the town and the inner fortifications.
From the line of the abattis came the shout of a sentinel, then the ring of his musket and, in a few seconds, the sound of a general alarm.
The French had found the abattis strong and almost undamaged twenty-five yards in front of the redoubt.
The defenses consisted of two rows of trenches, lying one over the other, with strong cover, and with wire entanglements and abattis in front of them.
Gabions, fasces, abattis, and other appliances for assault or defence were quickly made, and all this practical schooling in the work of war went on, under the watchful cooperation of the very officers who afterward became conspicuous in the field, from Long Island to Yorktown.