(within a fortification) a platform or mound of earth from which guns may be fired over the parapet instead of through embrasures.
Navy. an armored cylinder for protecting the lower part of a turret on a warship.
(formerly) an earthen platform inside a parapet, from which heavy guns could fire over the top
an armoured cylinder below a turret on a warship that protects the revolving structure and foundation of the turret
1765–75; < French, equivalent to barbe beard + -ette -ette, probably from the general metaphorical use of barbe for something which protrudes or faces outward
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Last came the ample habit-coat of heavy cloth, topped by a linen rochet and a stiffly starched barbette of cambric .
From Time Magazine Archive
Suddenly a shell struck the Ramillies forward in front of the barbette, and burst like the rending of a thundercloud.
From The Great War in England in 1897 by Le Queux, William
The chief application of armour in modern land defences is in the form of shields for the protection of guns mounted en barbette.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various
Almost at the outset he had carelessly taken a position that brought him within the danger arc of the blast from his own big barbette guns.
From Famous Sea Fights From Salamis to Tsu-Shima by Hale, John Richard
No barbette or merely embrasured battery of that day could stand up against the twenty or more heavy guns carried on each broadside by the steam-frigates, if these could get near enough.
From From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
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.
