trous-de-loup

British

/ ˌtruːdəˈluː /

noun

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

"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

Etymology

Origin of trous-de-loup

C18: from French, literally: wolf's holes

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.

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.

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023