trous-de-loup

/ ˌtruːdəˈluː /

noun

1. military any of a series of conical-shaped pits with a stake fixed in the centre, formerly used as protection against enemy cavalry

Word History and Origins

Origin of trous-de-loup¹

C18: from French, literally: wolf's holes

Example Sentences

Trous-de-loup, trōō-de-lōō, n.pl. conical pits dug in the ground, each with a vertical stake in the middle—a defence against cavalry.

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Beyond the two ditches, were trous-de-loup, or wolf-traps, from twenty to seventy feet apart.

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Obstacles of every kind abound, and at night each side can hear the enemy driving pickets for entanglements, digging trous-de-loup, or working forward by sapping.

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In addition to the parapet of an intrenchment, a good engineer will always find time and means for constructing other artificial obstacles, such as trous-de-loup, abattis, palisades, stockades, fraises, chevaux-de-frise, crows'-feet, mines, &c.

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Trous-de-loup are pits dug in the earth in the form of an inverted truncated cone, some six feet in diameter, and about the same number of feet in depth.

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