enfilade
Americannoun
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Military.
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a position of works, troops, etc., making them subject to a sweeping fire from along the length of a line of troops, a trench, a battery, etc.
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the fire thus directed.
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Architecture.
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an axial arrangement of doorways connecting a suite of rooms with a vista down the whole length of the suite.
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an axial arrangement of mirrors on opposite sides of a room so as to give an effect of an infinitely long vista.
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verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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to subject (a position or formation) to fire from a flank
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to position (troops or guns) so as to be able to fire at a flank
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has enfiladedperfect 3rd person singular
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have enfiladedperfect
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is enfiladingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are enfiladingprogressive
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have been enfiladingperfect progressive
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am enfiladingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been enfiladingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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enfiladessingular 3rd person
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enfiladingparticiple
Past
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had enfiladedperfect
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were enfiladingprogressive plural
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was enfiladingprogressive singular
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had been enfiladingperfect progressive
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enfiladedparticiple
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enfiladedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of enfilade
1695–1705; < French, equivalent to enfil ( er ) to thread, string ( en- en- 1 + -filer, derivative of fil < Latin fīlum thread) + -ade -ade 1
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
