Contravallation

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Contravallation \Con`tra*val*la"tion\, n. [Pref. contra- +
     vallation: cf. F. contrevallation. Cf. {Countervallation}.]
     (Fort.)
     A trench guarded with a parapet, constructed by besiegers, to
     secure themselves and check sallies of the besieged.
     [1913 Webster]



From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  56 Moby Thesaurus words for "contravallation":
     abatis, advanced work, balistraria, bank, banquette,
     barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barricade, barrier, bartizan,
     bastion, battlement, breastwork, bulwark, casemate,
     cheval-de-frise, circumvallation, counterscarp, curtain,
     demibastion, dike, drawbridge, earthwork, enclosure, entanglement,
     escarp, escarpment, fence, fieldwork, fortalice, fortification,
     glacis, loophole, lunette, machicolation, mantelet, merlon, mound,
     outwork, palisade, parados, parapet, portcullis, postern gate,
     rampart, ravelin, redan, redoubt, sally port, scarp, sconce,
     stockade, tenaille, vallation, vallum, work