debouch

American  

[dih-boosh, -bouch] / dɪˈbuʃ, -ˈbaʊtʃ /

verb (used without object)

1. to march out from a narrow or confined place into open country, as a body of troops.

   The platoon debouched from the defile into the plain.

2. Physical Geography.

   1. to emerge from a relatively narrow valley upon an open plain.

      A river or glacier debouches on the plains.

   2. to flow from a small valley into a larger one.

3. to come forth; emerge.

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noun

1. débouché.

debouch British  

/ dɪˈbaʊtʃ /

verb

1. (intr) (esp of troops) to move into a more open space, as from a narrow or concealed place

2. (intr) (of a river, glacier, etc) to flow from a valley into a larger area or body

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noun

1. Also called: débouché.  fortifications an outlet or passage, as for the exit of troops

Etymology

Origin of debouch

1655–65; < French déboucher, equivalent to dé- dis- ¹ + -boucher, verbal derivative of bouche mouth < Latin bucca cheek, jaw

Explanation

When soldiers debouch, they march out of a very narrow space. Troops might debouch out of a long pass between mountains, for example. When military troops debouch, they march in a long, narrow line — sometimes single file — because of the width of the area they're moving through. As they debouch, the soldiers emerge in a larger area, like an open field. The narrow space is known as a defile in military terminology. The verb debouch has a French root, déboucher, which combines dé, or "removal," and bouche, "mouth."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

debouch

But who knew that for centuries it has been possible to travel inland by boat from Rotterdam, climb the Rhine, get into the Danube and debouch upon the Black Sea?

From Time Magazine Archive

Undirected, highways smash and crash through whole neighborhoods, debouch a torrent of autos into already traffic-choked streets.

From Time Magazine Archive

During the day the Germans, who had been hemmed in at Samogneux, after repeated struggles to debouch from that place, succeeded when night came in capturing Hill 304.

From The Story of the Great War, Volume IV (of 8) Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War by Miller, Francis Trevelyan

Several such paths debouch here—which is the right one to follow?

From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard

Covered by the walls, they would rush the ruins of the bridgehead, debouch behind the embankment, and trust to their superior numbers to carry the inner defences by one overwhelming assault.

From Carry On! A Story of the Fight for Bagdad by Strang, Herbert