barbette carriage
- noun
- Archaic
:
carro de barbette
- The fort's cannons were mounted on barbette carriages to maximize their field of fire.
Examples
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By raising the gun above the parapet, the barbette carriage offered a tactical advantage.
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Historians studied the design of the barbette carriage used in 19th-century coastal defenses.
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The army deployed a barbette carriage to enhance their defenses.
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Many coastal fortifications utilize barbette carriages for their artillery.
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The fort's cannons were mounted on barbette carriages to maximize their field of fire.
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By raising the gun above the parapet, the barbette carriage offered a tactical advantage.
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Historians studied the design of the barbette carriage used in 19th-century coastal defenses.
Synonyms
2
7.2
A strong frame with wheels that holds a cannon for firing
A raised platform inside a fort for firing guns over the wall
Surface Forms
Morphology
barbette + carriage
The phrase is directly compositional: 'barbette' denotes a raised gun platform and 'carriage' denotes a mount or support, so 'barbette carriage' straightforwardly refers to a carriage/mount associated with a barbette. Although technical, the overall meaning follows regular noun–noun composition and would be clear to a learner who knows both constituent meanings.
Etymology
Barbette carriage was the name for a gun mount that lifted a cannon so its barrel showed above a low 'protective wall'. The word barbette may come from a word meaning 'beard', so you can picture the gun sticking up like a beard while the carriage holds it, and that image explains why the term means a mount that lets the gun 'fire over' the wall.