Barbette
1 Americannoun
noun
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(within a fortification) a platform or mound of earth from which guns may be fired over the parapet instead of through embrasures.
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Navy. an armored cylinder for protecting the lower part of a turret on a warship.
noun
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(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
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Eerie images of the Kaga captured by an undersea drone show a starboard side gun, a 20 cm gun, a gun mount and a barbette, or gun emplacement.
From Fox News
En barbette, In barbette, said of guns when they are elevated so as to fire over the top of a parapet, and not through embrasures.
From Project Gutenberg
It was a parallelogram, and mounted barbette guns only.
From Project Gutenberg
The cannon were well mounted, and placed in barbette and embrasure.
From Project Gutenberg
Almost simultaneously the six secondary armament guns added their quota of death and destruction to the slower crash of the heavier weapons in the barbettes.
From Project Gutenberg
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.