battlement

English

Etymology

From Middle English batilment, from Old French bataillement, earlier bastillement (“fortification”), from bastillier (“to fortify, to equip with battlements”), from bastille (“fortress”) (see bastion). By surface analysis, battle +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [ˈbætəɫmənt]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

battlement (plural battlements)

1. In fortification: an indented parapet, formed by a series of rising members called cops or merlons, separated by openings called crenelles or embrasures, the soldier sheltering himself behind the merlon while he fires through the embrasure or through a loophole in the battlement.
   • 1645, John Milton, L'Allegro‎^[1]:

     Towers, and battlements it sees
     Bosom'd high in tufted trees,
     Where perhaps some beauty lies,
     The cynosure of neighbouring eyes.

2. Any high wall for defense.
3. (poetic) The towering roof of heaven.

Synonyms

• (sense, indented parapet) crenellation

Derived terms

• battlemented

Translations

indented parapet formed by a series of rising members

• Bulgarian: зъбер (bg) (zăber)
• Catalan: cresteria f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防衛牆 / 防卫墙 (zh) (fángwèiqiáng), 城垛 (zh) (chéngduǒ)

• Czech: cimbuří n
• Danish: krenelering, brystværn, kamtak
• Dutch: bolwerk (nl) n
• Esperanto: krenelo
• Finnish: sakaramuuri
• French: rempart (fr) m
• German: Befestigung (de) f, Festungsmauer (de) f, Mauerzinne f, Zinne (de) f
• Greek: πολεμίστρα (el) f (polemístra)

  Ancient Greek: ἔπαλξις f (épalxis)

• Ido: krenelo (io)
• Italian: parapetto (it) m
• Macedonian: градобран m (gradobran)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brystvern n

• Persian: کنگره (fa) (kongere)
• Polish: blanki (pl) nvir, krenelaż (pl) m
• Portuguese: ameia (pt)
• Russian: стена́ с бойницами f (stená s bojnicami)
• Serbo-Croatian: grudobran (sh) m, krunište (sh) n
• Spanish: multiple: almenaje (es) m / almenado (es) m, almena (es) f
• Swedish: krenelering (sv) c
• Turkish: mazgallı siper (tr), siper (tr)

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “battlement”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.