Abatis

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæbətiː/

Definitions

1. A military fortification created using laid-down trees and branches to hinder the advance of foes
2. An engineered barrier made from fallen timber and limbs strategically placed to restrict enemy movement
3. A defense barrier built by arranging felled trees with branches intertwined to obstruct opposing forces' progress

Etymology: The military sense of "abatis" grows out of a very ordinary French verb: "abattre," meaning to beat down or cut down. The French noun "abatis" originally referred to any mass of things knocked or cut down, and it is from that literal sense that the fortification gets its name. Soldiers would fell trees, lay the trunks and branches so their sharpened tips pointed outward, and create a tangled barrier that slowed any attacking force. The English word is therefore a borrowing of a French term whose meaning was once simply "a heap of felled material." The fortification is named for the act of cutting down, not for the wall or the defense it provides. Our English word "abate," which means to lessen or diminish, comes from the same "abattre" root, so the two share an origin even though they have drifted far apart in meaning.