cheval-de-frise love

cheval-de-frise

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An obstacle made of stakes or spikes attached to a log, wooden frame, or metal drum and used to block enemy advancement or prevent unauthorized access.
  • noun A line of jagged glass or spikes set into masonry on top of a wall.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as chevaux-de-frise.
  • noun A kind of trimming in a pattern of radiating and crossing straight, lines.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mil.) A piece of timber or an iron barrel traversed with iron-pointed spikes or spears, five or six feet long, used to defend a passage, stop a breach, or impede the advance of cavalry, etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun defensive structure consisting of a movable obstacle composed of barbed wire or spikes attached to a wooden frame; used to obstruct cavalry

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, Frisian horse (from its use in Friesland to compensate for a lack of cavalry) : cheval, horse + de, of + Frise, Friesland.]

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Examples

  • During the floods, however, this cheval-de-frise of boulders must all be under water, and probably impassable.

    Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo 2003

  • He swung his sword at the cheval-de-frise and staggered sideways as a cobblestone hit his skull.

    Sharpe's Siege Cornwell, Bernard 1987

  • Harper waited with a squad of men beside a cheval-de-frise made from a scorched beam to which had been lashed and nailed fifty captured French bayonets.

    Sharpe's Siege Cornwell, Bernard 1987

  • Other men, sobbing and struggling, had been forced on to the cheval-de-frise that now lay canted on the breach's inner face.

    Sharpe's Siege Cornwell, Bernard 1987

  • Harper, Frederickson, and a dozen Riflemen were crouching high on the breach, just behind the cheval-de-frise.

    Sharpe's Siege Cornwell, Bernard 1987

  • The cheval-de-frise was destroyed for fifty yards.

    History of Kershaw's Brigade D. Augustus Dickert

  • Up to this time the columns of _The Lawrence_ had been flooded with communications couched in the style of the oration against Catiline, demanding to know how long the supine Lawrenceville boy would bear in silence the return of his shirt with added entrances and exits, and collars that enclosed the neck with a cheval-de-frise.

    The Varmint Owen Johnson 1915

  • Palisades the depth of two spruce logs ran across the front of the {312} rough barricade, loopholed for musketry, and protected by a sort of cheval-de-frise of brushwood and spines.

    Vikings of the Pacific The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward 1903

  • A high wall inclosed it, and on the top of this wall ran a miniature cheval-de-frise of iron.

    The Grey Cloak Harold MacGrath 1901

  • It was only when the Hôtel de Périgny loomed before him, with its bleak walls and sinister cheval-de-frise, that his sense of locality revived.

    The Grey Cloak Harold MacGrath 1901

Comments

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  • Barbed wire, spikes, or broken glass attached to wood or masonry and used to block access.

    June 19, 2009

  • See also chevaux-de-frise, chevaux de frise (both are plural).

    June 19, 2009

  • He doesn't need to speak Japanese

    For Ichiro handles English with ease,

    But translation supplies

    More time for replies

    So serves as a verbal cheval-de-frise.

    March 27, 2014