Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An earthen embankment, especially one used as a fortification. synonym: bulwark.
- noun Engineering Excavation and embankment of earth.
- noun A work of art made by altering an area of land or a natural geographic feature, especially on a large scale.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In engineering, any operation in which earth is removed or thrown up, as in cuttings, embankments, etc.
- noun In fortification, any offensive or defensive construction formed chiefly of earth: commonly in the plural.
- noun Any similar construction, as the ancient mounds of earth found in various parts of the United States, of unknown use and origin. They differ widely in form, but are always well defined in plan, and sometimes inclose large areas.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mil.) Any construction, whether a temporary breastwork or permanent fortification, for attack or defense, the material of which is chiefly earth.
- noun The operation connected with excavations and embankments of earth in preparing foundations of buildings, in constructing canals, railroads, etc.
- noun An embankment or construction made of earth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any
structure made fromearth ; especially anembankment orrampart used as afortification
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an earthen rampart
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Within the earthwork is a barn that was once the Decorated church of St. Martin.
Wanderings in Wessex An Exploration of the Southern Realm from Itchen to Otter Edric Holmes
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Behind the earthwork was a small fire, and he knew that men would be sitting about it.
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A peculiar kind of earthwork has the outline of gigantic men or animals.
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Assistant Secretary Owen said the latest estimates are that 35,000 civilians were able to flee the area Monday when government forces used explosives to create a gap in an "earthwork" wall a few miles long constructed by the Tigers using mechanical diggers.
FOXNews.com 2009
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Overlooking Hollybush to the north is a huge prehistoric earthwork, no doubt associated with the more complex one on the Herefordshire Beacon, but largely enclosed by thick, hanging woods.
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We would do volume calculations on the earthwork, and using the 286, one calculation was probably 30 to 45 minutes.
My speech to the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association AGM ewillett 2010
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Such is the foundation for arguing against any conservation of the earthwork, and allowing it to emerge and submerge with the tides.
Rebecca Taylor: Spiral Jetty: A Monument to Paradox & Transience Rebecca Taylor 2010
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We would do volume calculations on the earthwork, and using the 286, one calculation was probably 30 to 45 minutes.
My speech to the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association AGM ewillett 2010
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At best, Arthur had an earthwork fort and a small band of warriors around him.
Camelot Now 2010
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The picture above appears to be a rugged bit of coast—and recalls Robert Smithson's famous earthwork sculpture 'Spiral Jetty'—until one realizes that it's only a discarded tire, half-buried at San Francisco's Ocean Beach.
yarb commented on the word earthwork
Love the sound of Wordnet's "earthen rampart".
October 31, 2008