Mantlets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A defensive structure, often portable, used to protect soldiers during sieges or battles from enemy fire
2. A shield or screen designed to provide cover for troops; often movable for tactical advantage in combat situations
3. A barrier constructed to safeguard individuals, particularly in warfare, typically allowing for visibility while offering protection from attacks

Etymology: "Mantlets" is the plural of "mantlet", a word that reached English from Old French "mantelet", a little cloak or mantle. The French word is a diminutive of "mantel", meaning mantle, so the name originally described a small garment, and the link to a movable shield is a matter of shape rather than function: a hanging cloak thrown over a frame could be made to shelter whoever stood behind it. English took the word in Middle English, and it kept the sense of a short cape or cloak for a long time before the military meaning came to dominate. Its sibling "mantelletta", borrowed from Italian, is a doublet of the same word, descended from the same ancestor but arriving by a different route, and it survives as the name of a short cape worn by certain clergy.