berm

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.
2. n. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, & West Virginia The shoulder of a road.
3. n. A raised bank or path, especially the bank of a canal opposite the towpath.
4. n. A nearly horizontal or landward-sloping portion of a beach, formed by the deposition of sediment by storm waves.
5. n. A mound or bank of earth, used especially as a barrier or to provide insulation.
6. n. The flat space between the edge of a ditch and the base of a fortification.
7. v. To provide with a berm or berms.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A narrow ledge; specifically, in fortification, a space of ground or a terrace from 3 to 5 feet in width, left between the rampart and the moat or foss, designed to receive the ruins of the rampart in the event of a bombardment, and to prevent the earth from filling the foss. Sometimes it is palisaded, and in the Netherlands it is generally planted with a quickset hedge.
2. n. The bank or side of a canal which is opposite to the towing-path. Also called berm-bank.
3. n. In railroad engin., the narrow horizontal plane between the foot of the embankment or excavation slope and the top of the slope of the side-ditch.

Wiktionary

1. n. A narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope
2. n. A raised bank or path, especially the bank of a canal opposite the towpath
3. n. A terrace formed by wave action along a beach
4. n. A mound or bank of earth, used especially as a barrier or to provide insulation
5. n. A ledge between the parapet and the moat in a fortification
6. n. A strip of land between a street and sidewalk (regional)
7. v. To provide something with a berm

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Fort.) A narrow shelf or path between the bottom of a parapet and the ditch.
2. n. (Engineering) A ledge at the bottom of a bank or cutting, to catch earth that may roll down the slope, or to strengthen the bank.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a narrow ledge or shelf typically at the top or bottom of a slope
2. n. a narrow edge of land (usually unpaved) along the side of a road