Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An obstacle composed of barbed wire or spikes attached to a wooden frame, used to block enemy advancement.
- n. An obstacle made of jagged glass or spikes set into masonry on top of a wall.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as chevaux-de-frise.
- n. A kind of trimming in a pattern of radiating and crossing straight, lines.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Mil.) A piece of timber or an iron barrel traversed with iron-pointed spikes or spears, five or six feet long, used to defend a passage, stop a breach, or impede the advance of cavalry, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- n. defensive structure consisting of a movable obstacle composed of barbed wire or spikes attached to a wooden frame; used to obstruct cavalry
Etymologies
- French, Frisian horse (from its use in Friesland to compensate for a lack of cavalry) : cheval, horse + de, of + Frise, Friesland. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“During the floods, however, this cheval-de-frise of boulders must all be under water, and probably impassable.”
“He swung his sword at the cheval-de-frise and staggered sideways as a cobblestone hit his skull.”
“Harper, Frederickson, and a dozen Riflemen were crouching high on the breach, just behind the cheval-de-frise.”
“Harper waited with a squad of men beside a cheval-de-frise made from a scorched beam to which had been lashed and nailed fifty captured French bayonets.”
“Other men, sobbing and struggling, had been forced on to the cheval-de-frise that now lay canted on the breach's inner face.”
“The cheval-de-frise was destroyed for fifty yards.”
“Up to this time the columns of _The Lawrence_ had been flooded with communications couched in the style of the oration against Catiline, demanding to know how long the supine Lawrenceville boy would bear in silence the return of his shirt with added entrances and exits, and collars that enclosed the neck with a cheval-de-frise.”
“Palisades the depth of two spruce logs ran across the front of the {312} rough barricade, loopholed for musketry, and protected by a sort of cheval-de-frise of brushwood and spines.”
Vikings of the Pacific The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward
“A high wall inclosed it, and on the top of this wall ran a miniature cheval-de-frise of iron.”
“It was only when the Hôtel de Périgny loomed before him, with its bleak walls and sinister cheval-de-frise, that his sense of locality revived.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cheval-de-frise’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Vive la France!
French idioms, expressions, and proverbs.
appeler un chat u..., appuyer sur le ch..., araignée du matin..., au royaume des av..., autant pisser dan..., avoir d'autres ch..., avoir le cafard, avoir un chat dan..., avoir un oeil qui..., c'est dans les vi..., ce ne sont pas vo..., chanter comme une... and 108 more...
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Military Matters
words of mass (or minor) destruction
caltrop, stylet, chassepot, baldric, rewet, blunderbuss, musket, flintlock, howitzer, ordnance, casque, dragoon and 148 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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Field Mass
for the same
fanon, armet, wether, filibuster, shadoof, shabrack, mai, sainfoin, sand-crack, panoply, guerdon, flunky and 233 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cheval-de-frise.
chained_bear See also chevaux-de-frise, chevaux de frise (both are plural). Jun 19, 2009
sionnach Barbed wire, spikes, or broken glass attached to wood or masonry and used to block access. Jun 19, 2009