Breastwork definition

brĕstwûrk
breastworks
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Frequency:
A temporary, quickly constructed fortification, usually breast-high.
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A low wall put up quickly as a defense in battle.
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(nautical) A railing on the quarter-deck and forecastle.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
breastwork
Plural:
breastworks

Origin of breastwork

Breastwork Sentence Examples

  • A royal palace existed at Westminster at least as early as the reign of Canute, but the building spoken of by Fitzstephen as an "incomparable structure furnished with a breastwork and a bastion" is supposed to have been founded by Edward the Confessor and enlarged by William the Conqueror.

  • On the east and west the ravines already mentioned afforded, in the main, a sufficient protection, so that a massive wall was unnecessary, while near the south-eastern angle a breastwork was formed by the excavation of the natural rock, 2 which in later times was honeycombed with tombs.

  • Sulla captured it in 89 B.C. by setting on fire the wooden breastwork by which it was defended, and new fortifications were erected.

  • Next morning (October 14) William marched out from Hastings and attacked the English host, which stood at bay in a solid mass of spear and axemen behind a slight breastwork on the hillside.

  • Not only was the wall of Anthemius restored, but, at the distance of 20 yds., another wall was built in front of it, and at the same distance from this second wall a broad moat was constructed with a breastwork along its inner edge.

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Words near breastwork in the Dictionary