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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Gunfire directed along the length of a target, such as a column of troops.
  2. n. A target vulnerable to sweeping gunfire.
  3. n. Architecture A linear arrangement of a series of interior doors, as to a suite of rooms, so as to provide a vista when the doors are open.
  4. v. To rake with gunfire.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Milit., a line or straight passage; specifically, the situation of a place, or of a body of men, which may be raked with shot through its whole length.
  2. Milit., to pierce, scour, or rake with shot through the whole length, as a work or line of troops; be in a position to attack (a military work or a line of troops) in this manner.
  3. n. Milit., An infantry or artillery fire which sweeps a line of works or men from flank to flank.

Wiktionary

  1. n. gunfire directed along the length of a target
  2. n. architecture a series of doors that provide a vista when open
  3. v. transitive to rake something with gunfire

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. rare A line or straight passage, or the position of that which lies in a straight line.
  2. n. (Mil.) A firing in the direction of the length of a trench, or a line of parapet or troops, etc.; a raking fire.
  3. v. (Mil.) To pierce, scour, or rake with shot in the direction of the length of, as a work, or a line of troops.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. gunfire directed along the length rather than the breadth of a formation
  2. v. rake or be in a position to rake with gunfire in a lengthwise direction

Etymologies

  1. Borrowing from French enfilade. (Wiktionary)
  2. French, series, string, row, from enfiler, to string together, run through, from Old French : en-, in, on; see en-1 + fil, thread (from Latin fīlum; see gwhī- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (4)

Words with the same meaning

  1. rake
  1. flanking fire
  1. raking fire
  1. flank

hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. gunfire
  1. gunshot
  1. rake

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. misdemeanants
  2. half-moons
  3. demilune
  4. two-alarm
  1. bluffer
  2. scrounger
  3. order-master
  4. sealift
  1. cowhand
  2. squarer
  3. deployability
  4. diving-suit
  1. barbershop
  2. stateside
  3. virtsec
  4. dining-saloon
  1. fake-out
  2. soothsaying
  3. lexibility
  4. battleship
  1. scherzinger
  2. acquirer
  3. arsonist

reverse dictionary (7)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. trench-cavalier
  1. bonnet
  1. traverse
  1. rake
  1. trench cavalier
  1. fire
  1. surtout

tags (4)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. french
  1. military
  1. artillery
  1. archery

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Lists

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  • ruzuzu Reesetee--would that make it like a shotgun shack? Jan 31, 2011

  • bilby "Then the house had been boldly planned with a ball-room, so that, instead of squeezing through a narrow passage to get to it (as at the Chiverses’) one marched solemnly down a vista of enfiladed drawing-rooms (the sea-green, the crimson and the bouton d’or), seeing from afar the many-candled lustres reflected in the polished parquetry, and beyond that the depths of a conservatory where camellias and tree-ferns arched their costly foliage over seats of black and gold bamboo."
    - Edith Wharton, 'The Age of Innocence'. Sep 19, 2009

  • reesetee In architecture, it refers to a linear arrangement of interior doors that provides a vista when the doors are open.

    I guess you could shoot clear through all the rooms, too. Oct 9, 2008

  • chained_bear "ENFILADE, is when a gun sweeps the inside of a parapet or fortress." (citation in Historical Military Terms list description)

    The meaning has expanded somewhat since this dictionary was written (see first WeirdNet definition). Oct 9, 2008

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‘enfilade’ has been looked up 2594 times, loved by 4 people, added to 39 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.