释义 |
glacis|ˈgleɪsɪs, glasi| [a. F. glacis (first recorded in the 16th c.), orig. ‘a place made slipperie by wet lately fallen and frozen on’ (Cotgr.), and related to OF. glacier to slip, slide (see glace v.). In med.L. (c 1270) glatia is found with the meaning of glacis (in fortification).] 1. A gently sloping bank (see quot. 1712). In mod. use probably transf. from sense 2.
1672Phil. Trans. VII. 4081 That so the water..spreading it self upon the glacis or slope..may not spoil the Causey. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 37 A Slope that lies under the Diagonal of a Square, or less than 45 Degrees, they [the French] term Glacis. 1787M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 275 We were walking on the northern side of the Garden, upon a beautiful glacis. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 245 When nothing appears above water but the higher part of that sloping glacis which we before described. 1892Stevenson Across the Plains ii. 79 The foam..mounts in an instant to the ridge of the sand glacis. 2. a. Fortif. ‘The parapet of the covered way extended in a long slope to meet the natural surface of the ground, so that every part of it shall be swept by the fire of the ramparts’ (Voyle Mil. Dict.). Also fig.
1688Capt. J. S. Fortif. 27 The Glacis or Esplanade, a kind of Parapet which loseth itself insensibly, level with the Earth. 1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 486 The enemy..made 4 attacks on the glacis of the counterscarp. 1755T. Forbes in C. Gist Jrnls. (1893) 151 The Soldiers Barracks..are built between the Stockadoes and the Glacis of the Fort. 1782P. H. Bruce Mem. i. 15 Upon our breaking ground on the glacis, or covered way, I was with the pioneers. 1823Byron Juan viii. xxxiv, The rest, who kept their valiant faces And levell'd weapons still against the glacis. [c1870Hay Banty Tim 32, I sprawled on that cursed glacee.] 1879Howells L. Aroostook iv. 40 The black guns looked out over the neatly shaven glacis. 1955Times 3 Aug. 9/2 This view of east Germany as part of Russia's defensive glacis has never been dropped. 1960Observer 7 Feb. 7/6 The countries of Eastern Europe..form the glacis between the Soviet Union and the West. b. In full glacis plate. A sloping armour-plate protecting an opening, etc., in a ship.
1889J. J. Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. xiv. 149 These openings are generally further protected by working sloped armour plates—called glacis plates—around them about 3{pp} thick. 1933Jane's Fighting Ships 520 Armour (Krupp): 2{pp} deck (amidships), 3/4{pp} deck (ends), 3½{pp} glacis to engine room hatches. †3. Build. (See quot.)
1727–41Chambers Cycl., The glacis of the cornich is an easy imperceptible slope in the cymatium of the cornich, to promote the descent and draining off of the rain-water. 4. attrib., as glacis-form; glacis-shaped adj.
1844Hull Dock Act 65 The Company shall slope off the eastern side of the said wharf..in an oblique or glacis form. 1884Milit. Engin. I. ii. 35 When made glacis-shaped these screens are more difficult to cut through than when shaped like an ordinary parapet. |