circumvallation
noun
the act or process of surrounding a position with a fortification, or circumvallating.
circumvallations
-
pluralof circumvallation.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
Pretty Prudence, like a beleaguered city hard bested, kept the enemy Spikeman at bay; nor did he, with all his parallels and circumvallations, make any progress.
From The Knight of the Golden Melice A Historical Romance by John Turvill Adams
We have his works, but they are like the circumvallations of a Roman camp on the Scottish hillside.
From Dreamthorp A Book of Essays Written in the Country by Alexander Smith
Elsewhere the tomb, instead of developing as a tumulus or barrow, produced the effect of greatness by huge circumvallations of earth, and massive walls of stone.
From Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. by Standish O'Grady
Instead of this, with the exception of some two or three harmless sorties, they have been allowed slowly to inclose us in a net of circumvallations.
From Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris by Henry Labouchere
The ancient Americans knew how to protect every height and every delta formed by the junction of two rivers with redoubts, walls, parapets, fosses, and circumvallations.
From Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples by N. D'Anvers
