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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A cylindrical wicker basket filled with earth and stones, formerly used in building fortifications.
  2. n. A hollow metal cylinder used especially in constructing dams and foundations.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In fortification, a large basket of wickerwork constructed with stakes and osiers, or green twigs, in a cylindrical form, but without a bottom, varying in diameter from 20 to 70 inches, and in height from 33 inches to 5 or 6 feet, filled with earth, and serving to shelter men from an enemy's fire. In a siege, when making a trench, a row of gabions is placed on the outside nearest the fortress, and filled with earth dug from the trench, forming a breastwork that is proof against musketry fire. By increasing the number of rows to cover the points of junction, complete protection can be attained. Gabions are also largely used to form the foundations of dams and jetties. They are filled with stones, and sunk or anchored in streams where they will become loaded with silt. See jetty.
  2. n. See the quotation.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A cylindrical basket or cage of wicker which was filled with earth or stones and used in fortifications and other engineering work (a precursor to the sandbag).
  2. n. A woven wire mesh unit, sometimes rectangular, made from a continuous mesh panel and filled with stones sometimes coated with polyvinyl chloride.
  3. n. A porous metal cylinder filled with stones and used in a variety of civil engineering contexts, especially in the construction of retaining walls, the reinforcing of steep slopes, or in the prevention of erosion in river banks.
  4. n. A knickknack, objet d'art, curiosity, collectable.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Fort.) A hollow cylinder of wickerwork, like a basket without a bottom. Gabions are made of various sizes, and filled with earth in building fieldworks to shelter men from an enemy's fire.
  2. n. (Hydraul. Engin.) An openwork frame, as of poles, filled with stones and sunk, to assist in forming a bar dyke, etc., as in harbor improvement.

Etymologies

  1. Italian gabbione, augmentative of gabbia, itself from Latin cavea. (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from Italian gabbione, augmentative of gabbia, cage, from Latin cavea. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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same context (22)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. toand
  2. Chantilly
  3. wastepaper
  4. in/out
  1. open-worked
  2. imperforate
  3. wickerwork
  4. beehive-shaped
  1. deliverable
  2. woven-wire
  3. mysterious-looking
  4. toiletry
  1. uncover
  2. enor
  3. newly-opened
  4. ever-welcome
  1. flower-wreathed
  2. game-tying
  3. cleanable
  4. booby-trapped
  1. Cincinnati
  2. two-handled

reverse dictionary (12)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. form
  2. web
  1. wale
  2. waling
  1. sap-roller
  2. siege-basket
  1. cannon-basket
  2. sap roller
  1. basket
  2. bottom
  1. corbeil
  2. pannier

tags (2)

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  1. french
  1. military

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Lists

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Comments

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  • chained_bear See also gabbions. Oct 9, 2008

  • chained_bear "Wicker basket filled with earth and/or stone, used in fortifications." Found this definition in an online glossary about castles, but it was still used in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century warfare, and for all I know during World War I as well. I'm kind of surprised there's no Weirdnet definition. Aug 25, 2008

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‘gabion’ has been looked up 2068 times, added to 14 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.