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

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

In front the hill sloped gently down to the Charles City and Richmond road, and other points by which the enemy must debouch to begin the attack.

From Shoulder-Straps A Novel of New York and the Army, 1862 by Morford, Henry

But the cry of "The enemy!" rouses every energy: they debouch on the plain of Champ-Aubert, to fall on the moving column of the Russians under Alsufief.

From Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume II by Lever, Charles James

Their debouch upon the plains of the Illinois has already been mentioned.

From The Land of the Miamis An Account of the Struggle to Secure Possession of the North-West from the End of the Revolution until 1812 by Barce, Elmore