revetmentn.
/rᵻˈvɛtm(ə)nt/, U.S. /rəˈvɛtm(ə)nt/, /riˈvɛtm(ə)nt/ 1. Military.
a. Fortification. A retaining wall or facing of masonry, timber, or some other material supporting or protecting a rampart, the side of a ditch or trench, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > earthwork or rampart > [noun] > retaining wall
revêtement1711
revetment1747
1747 tr. M. Maigret Treat. Safety & Maintenance States v. 191 [For the construction of a fortress] Earth is the most essential..material,..then Free-stone, Brick,..Lime and Sand, if it is intended the works should have a revetment [Fr. si on est obligé de revêtir les ouvrages].
1780 L. Lochée Elements of Fortification 13 Most engineers are inclined to reject stone revetments, because shot fired against masonry make a vast ruin.
1838 Penny Cycl. X. 375/2 The cordon..at the top of the revetment.
1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea III. iv. 70 The defences of the Star Fort had revetments in masonry.
1914 D. Haig Diary 24 Dec. in War Diaries & Lett. 1914–18 (2005) 87 We discussed..trenches. (Size, depth and state, nature of revetment etc.).
1979 Antiquaries Jrnl. 59 251 The Iron Age hillfort builders were evidently quick to locate it [sc. the sandstone of the Hythe Beds] as a source of the revetment for their ramparts.
1990 J. R. Kenyon Medieval Fortifications (2005) i. 34 A timber revetment indicated by a single row of postholes ran along the rear.
b. A free-standing embankment or barrier formed from earth, sandbags, etc., used esp. to protect a gun position or stationary vehicle.
ΚΠ
1921 F. L. Field & G. H. Richards Battery Bk. 103 ‘Bang,’ roars the howitzer, and leaps on its heavy wheels, vainly pushing its spade against the revetment.
1942 Pop. Sci. Monthly Mar. 105/1 Sandbag revetments for the storage and servicing of planes.
1975 Economist 1 May 41/1 The Caravelle of Air Cambodge..taxies into a revetment of ammunition boxes filled with sand.
1991 Time 11 Feb. 26/1 In one picture..three dark half-moons turned out to be revetments for mobile artillery, but with no guns visible inside.
2002 Independent 7 Aug. 10/3 A former Russian military fortress, its tank revetments still evident amid the grey muck.
2. Chiefly Civil Engineering. A facing of masonry, concrete, turf, or the like, supporting or protecting a bank or embankment.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > surfacing or cladding > [noun] > a surfacing or cladding > of hard material > protecting an embankment
campshed1471
revetment1747
campshedding1819
revêtement1838
1747 tr. M. Maigret Treat. Safety & Maintenance States iv. 124 To construct them [sc. artificial harbours] a large..cavity must be cut in the solid beach..which is to be lined on all sides with a thick and strong revetment.
1838 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 338/1 B, revetment or sea wall.
1856 Illustr. London News 2 Feb. 110/1 The revetment [of the dry dock] at top was 6 feet 8 inches broad.
1880 V. Ball Jungle Life India xi. 494 The site of the town of Cuttack..has necessitated costly revetments and other protective works on the river face.
1906 Daily Chron. 20 Aug. 4/4 The sea swooshed along the groynes and revetments.
1977 Lancs. Life Nov. 82/4 The great stones of the Mersey revetment.
2007 Smithsonian Mar. 22/1 Its banks have been lined with dikes and rocky barriers called revetments.
3. Architecture and Archaeology. Decorative or protective facing on a structure or building. Also: an instance of this; a facing.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > surfacing or cladding > [noun] > a surfacing or cladding > of hard material
revetment1760
revêtement1839
1760 S. Riou Short Princ. Archit. Stone-bridges viii. 31 This artifice should only be executed for the inner work, and not to appear on the exterior revetment..of the arch.
1840 R. W. H. Vyse tr. M. de Sacy in Oper. Pyramids Gizeh II. 344 The [granite] revetment of this Pyramid has been removed in modern times.
1891 E. Sellers tr. K. Schuchhardt Schliemann's Excav. 152 The slabs..were originally the mere outward revetment of a massive wall.
1914 Amer. Jrnl. Archeol. 18 191 A portion of the ancient temple, with its revetment of bright terra-cotta.
1977 M. C. Sturgeon Sculpture vi. 134 The unsculptured areas could be filled with plain marble revetment or pilasters.
2004 Victorian July 16/1 The structural use of brick with lavish marble and mosaic revetments.
4. The action or process of reveting; fortification or reinforcement with revetments. Cf. revet v.1
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > earthwork or rampart > [noun] > retaining wall > construction of
revestment1745
revetment1846
revetting1851
1846 P. N. Barbour Jrnl. 14 Apr. (1936) 37 I have been on fatigue today superintending the revetment of a face of the bastion nearest our camp.
1901 Ann. Rep. Mississippi River Comm. in Ann. Rep. U.S. War Dept.: Suppl. to Rep. Chief of Engineers 12 The season's work consisted of the..revetment of a large pocket 491 feet long.
1957 J. M. Antill & P. W. S. Ryan Civil Engin. Constr. xxxv. 504 Revetment of river-banks consists of grading the bank to a stable slop, and covering.
1996 L. I. Kooistra Borderland Farming ix. 335 This was mostly wood employed for the revetment of wells, or wood that was part of the rubbish dumped in the wells.
Compounds
General attributive, as revetment system, revetment wall, etc.
ΚΠ
1819 Ann. Philos. 13 392 In this sketch a is the revetment wall, and b the earthern [sic] scarp.
1882 Harper's Mag. Sept. 612 The levee, jetty, and revetment system is not so simple.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 755/2 The building of the revetment mattress at Council Bluffs.
1941 W. A. Percy Lanterns on Levee i. 13 The United States Engineers..are now in full charge of levee and revetment work from one end of the river to the other.
1991 Oxf. Dict. Byzantium (Online text) at Revetment Isaac II took revetment slabs from palaces in Constantinople when he restored the Church of St. Michael at Anaplous.
2001 Oxoniensia 65 380 The southern boundary..appears to have survived into the late medieval period, with the latest ditch incorporating a revetment wall.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1747