intrenching tool

American  

Or entrenching tool

noun

1. a small, collapsible spade used by a soldier in the field for digging foxholes and the like.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

intrenching tool

He carried all the impedimenta of a man going into the trenches, an extra jar of water, a flat loaf of bread strapped to his haversack, and an intrenching tool jingling at his belt.

From The Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Conditions may require men to work in pairs, one firing while the other uses his intrenching tool.

From Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition by James A. (James Alfred) Moss

With the intrenching tool, troops can quickly throw up a low parapet about 3 feet thick which will furnish considerable cover against rifle fire, but scarcely any against shrapnel.

From Infantry Drill Regulations, United States Army, 1911 Corrected to April 15, 1917 (Changes Nos. 1 to 19) by United States War Department

When used in this fashion the wooden handle is laid aside, the pick end becomes a handle, and the intrenching tool is used in the same manner as a trowel.

From Trenching at Gallipoli The personal narrative of a Newfoundlander with the ill-fated Dardanelles expedition by John Gallishaw

The rear-rank man next inserts an intrenching tool or a bayonet, in its scabbard, under the rear end of the tent, the front rank man pegging down the end of the guy rope.

From The Plattsburg Manual A Handbook for Military Training by Olin Oglesby Ellis