Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In fort, a ditch covered with a parapet, serving as a means of communication between two trenches, especially between the first and third parallels. Also called a zigzag or an approach.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Fort.) A winding or zigzag trench forming a path or communication from one siegework to another, to a magazine, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military, defense In
military fortification , atrench orditch covered with aparapet that providescommunication between two trenches, particularly the rear and frontlines . Boyaus were typically constructed in a zigzag pattern to prevent exposure to direct enemy fire from the front. - noun A
line ,drawn winding about, in order toenclose severaltracts ofland , or toattack some works.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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We have no direct evidence how the embryo is formed, yet no one doubts but that it is brought about by the agency of the boyau, which is a cell containing grumous molecular matter.
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith
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Just as we neared the crest of the hill, at a notice bearing the legend, "Keep below," the whole party entered a deep "boyau" leading right up to the trenches in front, from which branched off various passages to the gun pits, or butts, as we used to call them.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, August 8, 1917 Various
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Arrangements for passage of men moving in opposite directions may be made by extending short spurs at the corners, enlarging the boyau at the bends, digging niches or passing points here and there, or constructing island traverses with the boyau running around on each side.
Military Instructors Manual Oliver Schoonmaker
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The embryonary sac of Phaenogams does not always exist at the time of application of the boyau, and the appearance of the embryo is always posterior to this.
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith
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Bombing stations are placed near by to protect the guns and to clear the boyau of the enemy.
Military Instructors Manual Oliver Schoonmaker
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I shall be very anxious to know what your opinion is, particularly with regard to the tubes and all adhering filaments; the question now occupying botanists, being this, is the embryo derived directly from the boyau or is it derived from some parts of the ovulum?
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith
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We were walking along a country lane to a turning where a trench boyau began.
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915 April-September, 1915 Various
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As well might they doubt the necessity of the application of the boyau to an ovule, (or the existence of the boyau itself,) because the derivation of the embryo cannot be proved.
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith
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_Jacques Martin, soldat au 170e d'infanterie, grenadier d'élite, au cours des combats du 26 et du 27 novembre, 1916, a, par son mépris du danger et par son ardeur, assuré la progression dans un boyau défendu pas à pas par l'ennemi.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, March 14, 1917 Various
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However different a boyau may seem to many, yet when viewed in conjunction with Cycadeae, the graduation to the present case becomes natural, and even the resemblance may be perfect, because in Cycas the grains of pollen get into the nucleus bodily, although they would still seem to throw out short tails.
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith
whichbe commented on the word boyau
n. - (pl. -aux ) winding trench; zigzag
May 16, 2008