wire entanglement

American  

noun

1. a barbed-wire obstacle, usually mounted on posts and zigzagged back and forth along a front, designed to channel, delay, or halt an advance by enemy foot soldiers.

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wire entanglement British  

noun

1. a barrier or obstruction of barbed wire used in warfare

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Etymology

Origin of wire entanglement

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

That night the Cabinet threw a barbed wire entanglement and a cordon of troops around the Ballhaus, retired within and hammered out a compromise which did all present much credit.

From Time Magazine Archive

In October 1916, under fierce enemy fire he succeeded in cutting an Austrian barbed wire entanglement and led a storming party to the capture of an important ridge position.

From Time Magazine Archive

Be surrounded by a wire entanglement of irregular trace and as invisible as possible.

From Military Instructors Manual by Schoonmaker, Oliver

The immediate defence of the batteries consists of a glacis planted with thorn bushes and a wire entanglement.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various

"Well, we were standing by the barbed wire entanglement, arguing the point, when suddenly some infernal imbecile in our own trenches—" "Cockerell, for a dollar!" murmurs Wagstaffe.

From The First Hundred Thousand by Hay, Ian