glacis

[ gley-sis, glas-is ]

noun,plural gla·cis [gley-seez, -siz, glas-eez, -iz], /ˈgleɪ siz, -sɪz, ˈglæs iz, -ɪz/, gla·cis·es.
  1. a gentle slope.

  2. Fortification. a bank of earth in front of the counterscarp or covered way of a fort, having an easy slope toward the field or open country.

Origin of glacis

1
1665–75; <Middle French; akin to Old French glacier to slide; compare Latin glaciāre to make into ice; see glacé

Words Nearby glacis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use glacis in a sentence

  • In six days they completed the parapet, with a glacis on the opposite side.

    The Battle of New Orleans | Zachary F. Smith
  • The opposing lines of trenches go down the slope, much as usual, with the enemy line above on a slight natural glacis.

    The Old Front Line | John Masefield
  • It was like the escarped rampart of a stupendous fortress, whose glacis was the beach, and whose champaign the ocean.

    Cape Cod | Henry D. Thoreau
  • It is defended by a castle with ditches glacis, and by a double wall, which in some parts is triple.

  • Hamos (Hems) is a good town, well inclosed with walls and ditches "en glacis," situated in a plain on the banks of a small river.

British Dictionary definitions for glacis

glacis

/ (ˈɡlæsɪs, ˈɡlæsɪ, ˈɡleɪ-) /


nounplural -ises or -is (-iːz, -ɪz)
  1. a slight incline; slope

  2. an open slope in front of a fortified place

  1. short for glacis plate

Origin of glacis

1
C17: from French, from Old French glacier to freeze, slip, from Latin glaciāre, from glaciēs ice

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012