batardeau

Definitions

noun A coffer-dam; a casing of piles made water-tight, fixed in the bed of a river to exclude the water from the site of the pier or other work while it is being constructed.
noun In fortification, a wall, generally furnished with a sluice-gate, built across a moat or ditch, to retain the water in those parts of the ditch which require to be inundated.

noun A cofferdam.
noun (Mil.) A wall built across the ditch of a fortification, with a sluice gate to regulate the height of water in the ditch on both sides of the wall.

noun A cofferdam.
noun military A wall built across the ditch of a fortification, with a sluice gate to regulate the height of water in the ditch on both sides of the wall.

French

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Now I wished indeed for the batardeau, with which I might have slit the arras and so peered out; as the deep voice spoke again, it struck me that others who had stood where I stood must have had the same thought, and sharp knives to boot.

The Urth of the New Sun Wolfe, Gene 1987
For a moment I considered taking his batardeau to replace the knife I had lost so many chiliads ago, but the thought of wielding a poisoned blade was repugnant.

The Urth of the New Sun Wolfe, Gene 1987
His outstretched hand had lost its grip upon the venom-daubed batardeau lying across its palm.

The Urth of the New Sun Wolfe, Gene 1987
I stepped back; before I could turn away, all the hideous stages of putrefaction presented themselves in order reversed, like urchins at an almshouse who thrust the youngest of their company to the front: the wrinkled flesh swelled and seethed with maggots, retreated to the lividity of death, and finally resumed the coloration and almost the appearance of life; the flaccid hand closed on the corroded steel hilt of the batardeau until it gripped it like a vise.

The Urth of the New Sun Wolfe, Gene 1987