chevaux-de-frise
- noun
- /ʃəˈvoʊ də ˈfriz/
- Archaic
:
caballo de frisa
- The army set up a line of chevaux-de-frise to protect their camp from enemy cavalry.
Examples
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During the battle, the soldiers used chevaux-de-frise to block the charge of the advancing troops.
-
Many times their ships were damaged and cargoes lost when they tried to get by the chevaux-de-frise, the large frames with dangerous pointed spears that the Americans had sunk into the Delaware.
Fiction book (1994) -
The castle's defenses included a series of chevaux-de-frise, effectively deterring any cavalry assaults.
Synonyms
A frame with many long spikes used to stop horses or soldiers from getting through
A sloping pit with a pointed stick in the middle to stop enemy soldiers
How Strong
Surface Forms
Etymology
Chevaux-de-frise comes from the French parts chevaux 'horses' and frise 'Frisia'. People called a line of wooden spikes this because the spikes stood like horses to stop other horses, so today it means a spiked barrier used to block cavalry or enemy troops.