glacis
Americannoun
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glacis,
plural
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glacises
plural
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a gentle slope.
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Fortification. a bank of earth in front of the counterscarp or covered way of a fort, having an easy slope toward the field or open country.
noun
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a slight incline; slope
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an open slope in front of a fortified place
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short for glacis plate
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of glacis
1665–75; < Middle French; akin to Old French glacier to slide; compare Latin glaciāre to make into ice; see glacé
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.
See Examples For:
On another part of a wall, Cox was part of an excavation that uncovered a glacis, a defensive structure in early fortresses.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 7, 2015
This particular glacis was ground, compacted limestone, which became very slick with moisture.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 7, 2015
The cannons are aimed, for the moment, at cattle upon the glacis, and children batting at the sky with sticks.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
It was a tricky business getting out of the fort, for the sunken lane that wound through the extensive glacis was littered with debris of exploded shells.
From The Dispatch-Riders The Adventures of Two British Motor-cyclists in the Great War by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
Thirty years before we had been at Father Genaudet's school, and we had scoured the city, the moats, and the glacis together, as children.
From The Blockade of Phalsburg An Episode of the End of the Empire by Alexandre Chatrian
They reach their glacises, their ditches, covered ways, correct as mathematics; tear out chevaux-de-frise, hew down palisades, in the given number of minutes: Swift, ye Regiment's-carpenters; smite your best!
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 12 by Thomas Carlyle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
