ravelin

[rav-lin]

noun Fortification.

a V-shaped outwork outside the main ditch and covering the works between two bastions.

Origin of ravelin

1580–90; < Middle French, earlier revelin < Italian rivellino, diminutive of riva bank, rim

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ravelin

Historical Examples of ravelin

The reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded was revealed.
The Rise of the Dutch Republic, Volume II.(of III) 1566-74
John Lothrop Motley
For the ravelin proved a sufficient protection for the besieged.
The Story of Chartres
Cecil Headlam
Here Nechaev—in the gloomy Alexis ravelin—was kept a prisoner for life.
Comrade Kropotkin
Victor Robinson
On the other hand, it made the ravelin liable to capture by the gorge.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6
Various
Ravelin, rav′lin, n. a detached work with two embankments raised before the counterscarp.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)
Various

British Dictionary definitions for ravelin

ravelin

noun

fortifications an outwork having two embankments at a salient angle

Word Origin for ravelin

C16: from Italian ravellino a little bank, from riva bank, from Latin rīpa

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012