bivouac

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“
Napoleon always said that the bivouac was the finest training for troops You will be glad enough of shelter, sergeant-major, before to-night's out, mark my words!

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A temporary encampment often in an unsheltered area.
  2. intransitive verb To camp in a bivouac.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • I extended my care to the horses, for which we made big shelters, thatched with straw, and placed behind the men's huts, so that our bivouac was almost as comfortable as a regular camp in peacetime. —  The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot
  • Napoleon always said that the bivouac was the finest training for troops You will be glad enough of shelter, sergeant-major, before to-night's out, mark my words! —  The Thin Red Line; and Blue Blood
  • A wild storm burst upon us at night-fall, and our bivouac was a damp and dreary one. —  The Great Lone Land A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America
  • "No doubt it will be a pretty sight; but there have been lots of balls, and this bivouac will be a new experience altogether I don't know that you are wrong, Conway," Captain O'Connor said. —  One of the 28th A Tale of Waterloo
  • The spot selected for their bivouac was at the foot of Brown's Gap, not more than twelve miles south-west of the camp in Elk Run Valley May 3 The next morning the clouds broke. —  Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from German dialectal beiwacht, supplementary night watch : bei-, beside (from Middle High German bi-, from Old High German; see ambhi in Indo-European roots) + Wacht, watch, vigil (from Middle High German wahte, from Old High German wahta; see weg- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Also bivouack, in 18th century occasionally biouac, biovac, bihovac, from French bivouac, formerly biouac, orig. bivac, prob. from German dial. (Swiss) beiwacht, a patrol of citizens added in time of alarm or commotion to the regular town watch (cf. German beiwache, a keeping watch), from bei, = English by, + wacht, German wache = English watch, n.
  2. from bivouac, n.
 

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/ˈbɪvuæk/
by American Heritage

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