Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
The sloping earthen embankment behind a defensive wall.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The level platform atop a wall, typically protected by a parapet and (strictly) distinguished from the slightly higher banquette used by its defenders.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any level base used by artillery in the field.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any earthen embankment with a broad level top, such as those used for a canal elevated above a valley floor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: civil-engineering, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
level space where heavy guns can be mounted behind the parapet at the top of a rampart
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: space
History
Originally a borrowing of Italian terrapieno (“earth-fill(ed)”), later altered after the model of French terreplein (now terre-plein). Its former misspellings arose from confusion of the second element of the name with Italian piano or French plain, plane (“flat, level”) based on the appearance of the earth-filled central platforms of walls.
Across languages
1 source translations are retained for this English entry.
