wire entanglement

American  

noun

1. a barbed-wire obstacle, usually mounted on posts and zigzagged back and forth along a front, designed to channel, delay, or halt an advance by enemy foot soldiers.

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wire entanglement British  

noun

1. a barrier or obstruction of barbed wire used in warfare

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Etymology

Origin of wire entanglement

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

That night the Cabinet threw a barbed wire entanglement and a cordon of troops around the Ballhaus, retired within and hammered out a compromise which did all present much credit.

From Time Magazine Archive

In October 1916, under fierce enemy fire he succeeded in cutting an Austrian barbed wire entanglement and led a storming party to the capture of an important ridge position.

From Time Magazine Archive

They came to a wire entanglement somewhat similar to that on the American side of the morass.

From Ruth Fielding at the War Front or, The Hunt for the Lost Soldier by Emerson, Alice B.

And away he dashed, taking a barbed wire entanglement like a bird, and coming up with a little bunch of horsemen re-forming in a hollow.

From With Haig on the Somme by Webb, Archibald

An excellent arrangement is to dig the pits in a checkerboard plan, leaving alternate squares and placing a stake in each of them to form a wire entanglement, Fig.

From Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition by Moss, James A. (James Alfred)