Revets

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Covers an earthen bank, wall or slope with stone, timber or concrete to protect it from erosion or collapse
2. Lines a retaining embankment or wall with a sturdy facing material to guard it against wear and washing away
3. Fortifies a sloping surface such as a bank or rampart with a durable outer layer that holds the earth in place

Etymology: "Revets" is the third-person singular form of "revet," a verb meaning to face a wall or embankment with stone. The verb came into English by borrowing from French "revêtir," meaning "to reclothe," and the French word is built from "re-" (again) plus "vêtir" (to clothe), which descends from Latin "vestire," to clothe, related to "vestis," a garment. So the original image is of dressing something anew, and a stone-faced wall is still a kind of garment laid over the earth beneath it. The sense of putting a protective outer layer over a structure is a short step from clothing: a wall is faced with stone the way a body is dressed in cloth. That is the meaning the English verb kept, narrowing from a general idea of covering to the specific work of masonry on embankments and walls.

Synonyms: line, face, reinforce