breastwork

[ brest-wurk ]

/ ˈbrɛstˌwɜrk /

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noun Fortification.

a defensive work, usually breast high.

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Origin of breastwork

First recorded in 1635–45; breast + work

Words nearby breastwork

breastplow, breast pump, breaststroke, breastsummer, breast wheel, breastwork, breath, breathable, breathalyse, Breathalyser, Breathalyzer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use breastwork in a sentence

My station was on the right of the line, where the breastwork, ending in a redoubt, was steep and high.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
Our camp was enclosed with a solid wall of the dead—a bulwark, a breastwork, of corpses, you may say.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
I found the reserves had thrown up a breastwork from the Ohio 348 to the Kanawha, thus inclosing the camp on the Point.
A Virginia Scout|Hugh Pendexter
He was on the crest of the hill, and at every lull in the strife his men piled the loose stones into a rude breastwork.
The Boys of '61|Charles Carleton Coffin.

They move upon the run,—up to the breastwork of rails,—bearing Hancock's line to the top of the ridge,—so powerful their momentum.
The Boys of '61|Charles Carleton Coffin.

British Dictionary definitions for breastwork

breastwork

/ (ˈbrɛstˌwɜːk) /

noun

fortifications a temporary defensive work, usually breast-highAlso called: parapet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

breastwork

Origin of breastwork

Words nearby breastwork

Words related to breastwork

How to use breastwork in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for breastwork