cheval-de-frise

[ shuh-val-duh-freez ]

/ ʃəˈvæl dəˈfriz /

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noun, plural che·vaux-de-frise

[shuh-voh-duh-freez]. /ʃəˈvoʊ dəˈfriz/. Usually chevaux-de-frise.

a portable obstacle, usually a sawhorse, covered with projecting spikes or barbed wire, for military use in closing a passage, breaking in a defensive wall, etc.

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Origin of cheval-de-frise

1680–90; <French; literally, horse of Friesland, so called because first used by Frisians

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cheval-de-frise in a sentence

Whence also cheval de frise, a contrivance used by the Frieslanders against cavalry.
The Romance of Words (4th ed.)|Ernest Weekley
The cheval de frise had given way under the strain upon it, and the rope had dropped on to the coping of the wall itself.
In Strange Company|Guy Boothby
A cheval-de-frise consists of a horizontal piece of timber armed with wooden or iron lances, which project some eight or ten feet.
Elements of Military Art and Science|Henry Wager Halleck
These must be sharpened, and as the walls are built, fixed among the stones so as to make a cheval-de-frise.
Won by the Sword|G.A. Henty

But between the hunters and their fallen quarry reared a cheval de frise of flame and fallen timber impossible to cross.
The Bell-Ringer of Angel's and Other Stories|Bret Harte

British Dictionary definitions for cheval-de-frise

cheval-de-frise

/ (ʃəˌvældəˈfriːz) /

noun plural chevaux-de-frise (ʃəˌvəʊdəˈfriːz)

a portable barrier of spikes, sword blades, etc, used to obstruct the passage of cavalry

a row of spikes or broken glass set as an obstacle on top of a wall

Word Origin for cheval-de-frise

C17: from French, literally: horse from Friesland (where it was first used)

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