abatis
Americannoun
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abatis,
plural
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abatises
plural
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an obstacle or barricade of trees with bent or sharpened branches directed toward an enemy.
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a barbed wire entanglement used as an obstacle or barricade against an enemy.
noun
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a rampart of felled trees bound together placed with their branches outwards
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a barbed-wire entanglement before a position
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of abatis
1760–70; < French; Old French abateis < Vulgar Latin *abatteticius, derivative of Old French abattre ( see abate)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The defenses consisted of two lines of abatis and a line of earthworks manned by Brig.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 17, 2021
The soldiers paused while the sappers removed the abatis, during which time they were exposed to a destructive fire, and lost more men than did the Americans in their headlong attack.
From The Student's Life of Washington; Condensed from the Larger Work of Washington Irving For Young Persons and for the Use of Schools by Washington Irving
It may be an entanglement, an abatis, an inundation: anything that will check the rush and make him move slowly.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various
While thus posted, Washington was incessantly occupied in fortifying the approaches to his camp by redoubts, abatis, and deep intrenchments.
From The Student's Life of Washington; Condensed from the Larger Work of Washington Irving For Young Persons and for the Use of Schools by Washington Irving
On the right hand, in particular, were romantic forest scenes; a wilderness of fallen trees, which the floods and storms had thrown and piled upon each other, like an abatis.
From Travels in the Interior of North America, Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843) Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XXII by Alexander Philipp Maximilian
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