abatis

[ ab-uh-tee, -tis, uh-bat-ee, uh-bat-is ]

/ ˈæb əˌti, -tɪs, əˈbæt i, əˈbæt ɪs /

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noun, plural ab·a·tis

[ab-uh-teez, uh-bat-eez], /ˈæb əˌtiz, əˈbæt iz/, ab·a·tis·es

[ab-uh-tis-iz, uh-bat-uh-siz]. /ˈæb əˌtɪs ɪz, əˈbæt ə sɪz/.

an obstacle or barricade of trees with bent or sharpened branches directed toward an enemy.

a barbed wire entanglement used as an obstacle or barricade against an enemy.

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Origin of abatis

1760–70; <French; Old French abateis<Vulgar Latin *abatteticius, derivative of Old French abattre (see abate)

Words nearby abatis

abashed, abasia, abate, abated, abatement, abatis, abat-jour, abator, abattage, A battery, abattoir

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use abatis in a sentence

Just in front of the abatis there was open ground for perhaps two hundred yards.
Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War|Various
One man in the trench was killed by this shot, and the others ran back to the abatis.
Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War|Various
The axemen rushed across the open and soon the thuds of their axes told of the cutting away of the abatis.
The Civil War Through the Camera|Henry W. (Henry William) Elson
Note the abatis to the right of the picture, the wagons moving and ready to move in the background, and the artillery on the left.
The Civil War Through the Camera|Henry W. (Henry William) Elson

Abatis, beswept by those ten Brummers and other Batteries, till bullet and bayonet can act on it, speedily gives way.
History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XVIII. (of XXI.)|Thomas Carlyle

British Dictionary definitions for abatis

abatis

abattis

/ (ˈæbətɪs, ˈæbətiː) /

noun fortifications

a rampart of felled trees bound together placed with their branches outwards

a barbed-wire entanglement before a position

Word Origin for abatis

C18: from French, from abattre to fell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012