barbette

¹ American  

[bahr-bet] / bɑrˈbɛt /

noun

1. (within a fortification) a platform or mound of earth from which guns may be fired over the parapet instead of through embrasures.

2. Navy. an armored cylinder for protecting the lower part of a turret on a warship.

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Barbette ² American  

[bahr-bet] / bɑrˈbɛt /

noun

1. a first name, form of Barbara.

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barbette British  

/ bɑːˈbɛt /

noun

1. (formerly) an earthen platform inside a parapet, from which heavy guns could fire over the top

2. an armoured cylinder below a turret on a warship that protects the revolving structure and foundation of the turret

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Etymology

Origin of barbette

1765–75; < French, equivalent to barbe beard + -ette -ette, probably from the general metaphorical use of barbe for something which protrudes or faces outward

Example Sentences

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

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)

The Mikasa opened the ball by firing a sighting shot from one of the 12-inch guns in her fore barbette, and at the same moment the Russian ships were seen to be getting under way.

From Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun A Story of the Russo-Japanese War by Lumley, Savile

Watching, I saw one shot from one of my bow barbette guns crash into the roof of the fine new H�tel du Louvre, in the Cannebi�re.

From The Great War in England in 1897 by Le Queux, William

Little or nothing can be seen from the barbette; from the "fire-control station" the target is a mere speck on the horizon about eleven miles away.

From The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 2 (of 10) From the Battle of Mons to the Fall of Antwerp. by Parrott, James Edward