rifle pit

American  

noun

1. a pit or short trench affording shelter to riflemen in firing at an enemy.

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Etymology

Origin of rifle pit

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rifle pit

Sand-rat—an officer or soldier on duty in the rifle pit at target practice.

From Rhymes of the Rookies by W. E. Christian

The boys of the Thirty-third New York being on the skirmish line on the 8th, charged a rifle pit with shouts and hurrahs, and drove the rebels from it.

From Three Years in the Sixth Corps A Concise Narrative of Events in the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the Close of the Rebellion, April, 1865 by George T. Stevens

The coats sat oddly on their long frames, but fortunately there was as yet very little light, and in the gray gloom they presented a tolerable resemblance to the late tenants of the rifle pit.

From On Land and Sea at the Dardanelles by T. C. (Thomas Charles) Bridges

This all happened one dark night in the month of July, 1864, in the rifle pit in front of Atlanta.

From "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment or, A Side Show of the Big Show by Sam R. Watkins

This is the ordinary rifle pit, but when time permits it receives many improvements.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various