cheval-de-frise

American  

[shuh-val-duh-freez] / ʃəˈvæl dəˈfriz /

noun

chevaux-de-frise plural

1. 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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cheval-de-frise British  

/ ʃəˌvældəˈfriːz /

noun

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

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• chevaux-de-frise
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cheval-de-frise

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

Example Sentences

During the floods, however, this cheval-de-frise of boulders must all be under water, and probably impassable.

From Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 2 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

After traversing this gloomy avenue for about four miles, the first symptoms of war met our eyes in the shape of a dead horse, whose ribs glared like a cheval-de-frise from a tumulus of mud.

From Before and after Waterloo Letters from Edward Stanley, sometime Bishop of Norwich (1802; 1814; 1816) by Stanley, Edward

There is a low wall there, and a cheval-de-frise on the top of it.

From With Frederick the Great A Story of the Seven Years' War by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

On one occasion after Hall, I was flown with such insolence against college restrictions that the cheval-de-frise above the back gate seemed an affront to a freeborn American.

From An American at Oxford by Corbin, John

He looked again and saw a great h�tel, surrounded by a high wall, along the top of which, ran a cheval-de-frise.

From The Grey Cloak by Peirce, Thomas Mitchell