| Part of Speech | Definition | |
| Noun | 1. The act of surrounding with a wall or rampart.[Websters]
2. A line of field works made around a besieged place and the besieging army, to protect the camp of the besiegers against the attack of an enemy from without.[Websters]. | |
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Date "CIRCUMVALLATION" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1765. (references) |
Specialty Definition: CIRCUMVALLATION
| Domain | Definition | ||
| Noah Webster | 1: [Noun] In the art of war, a surrounding with a wall or rampart; also, a wall, rampart, or parapet with a trench, surrounding the camp of a besieging army, to prevent desertion, and guard the army against any attempt of an enemy to relieve the place besieged.. | 2: [Noun] The rampart, or fortification surrounding a besieged place. [Note. This word, from the Latin, vallo, or vallum, vallus, denotes properly the wall or rampart thrown up; but as the rampart is formed by entrenching, and the trench makes a part of the fortification, the word is applied to both. See Eng. Wall.]. Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary. | |
| Wiktionary | [Noun] A rampart or other defensive entrenchment. 1761: and in a word, would intrench and fortify them round with as many circumvallations and breast-works, as my uncle Toby would a citadel. — Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, vol. 3 (Penguin 2003, p. 201) 1819: The Saxon architect had exhausted his art in rendering the main keep defensible, and there was no other circumvallation than a rude barrier of palisades. — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
