abattis

IPA: ʌbˈætɪs

Alternative spelling of abatis [A means of defense formed by felled trees, or sometimes by bent trees, the ends of whose branches are sharpened and directed outwards, or against the enemy, and more recently fortified with barbed wire.]

Examples of "abattis" in Sentences

Abattis nearly 300 metres deep covered the path.
At intervals around and inside the outer abattis are built the
The abattis has usually four entrances which are choked up with heaps of bushes at night.
The French had found the abattis strong and almost undamaged twenty-five yards in front of the redoubt.
On both sides are little square plots fenced against sheep and goats by a rude abattis of stripped and dead boughs,
From the line of the abattis came the shout of a sentinel, then the ring of his musket and, in a few seconds, the sound of a general alarm.
Washington could see that these works had stout abattis and chevaux-de-frise and that from them, probably, a good view could be had both of the plain near the town and the inner fortifications.
Msuwa, a village situated in a populous district, having in its vicinity no less than five other villages, each fortified by stakes and thorny abattis, with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were so many Percys and Douglasses.
As they swarm with vermin by night and flies by day23, I frequently made strong objections to these favourite localities: the utmost conceded to me was a fresh enclosure added by a smaller hedge to the outside abattis of the more populous cow-kraals.