glacis
a gentle slope.
Fortification. a bank of earth in front of the counterscarp or covered way of a fort, having an easy slope toward the field or open country.
Origin of glacis
1Words Nearby glacis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use glacis in a sentence
In six days they completed the parapet, with a glacis on the opposite side.
The Battle of New Orleans | Zachary F. SmithThe opposing lines of trenches go down the slope, much as usual, with the enemy line above on a slight natural glacis.
The Old Front Line | John MasefieldIt was like the escarped rampart of a stupendous fortress, whose glacis was the beach, and whose champaign the ocean.
Cape Cod | Henry D. ThoreauIt is defended by a castle with ditches glacis, and by a double wall, which in some parts is triple.
Early Travels in Palestine | Arculf et al.Hamos (Hems) is a good town, well inclosed with walls and ditches "en glacis," situated in a plain on the banks of a small river.
Early Travels in Palestine | Arculf et al.
British Dictionary definitions for glacis
/ (ˈɡlæsɪs, ˈɡlæsɪ, ˈɡleɪ-) /
a slight incline; slope
an open slope in front of a fortified place
short for glacis plate
Origin of glacis
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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