schansen.
/skans/, /skɑːns/, U.S. /skæns/, South African English /skʌns/, /skɑːns/ South African.
A heap or breastwork of stones used as a protection against rifle fire.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > shelter or screen > [noun] > heap of stones as screen
schanse1880
1880 Times 18 Oct. 4/3 Some of these paths are..barred by lines of schanzes, or stone barricades.
1885 J. Nixon Compl. Story Transvaal xi. 200 They found the Boers intrenched in a series of schanses (stone~works, breast high), along the northern ridge of the valley.
1894 B. Mitford Renshaw Fanning's Quest xxii. 177 Lucky, I took the precaution of building a schanz,—eh?
1896 St. James's Gaz. 10 Jan. 4/1 Wherever there was a decent lot of rocks and schantzes..to hide behind.
1899 G. H. Russell Under Sjambok ii. 25 The ruined kraals and schanses were the abodes of innumerable serpents.
1900 Daily News 15 Jan. 5/5 The first line of schanzes, or stone breastworks,..were promptly occupied by the Boer sharpshooters.
1929 D. Reitz Commando ix. 75 We were sustaining heavy casualties from the English schans immediately in front of us.
1969 J. Selby Boer War 15 Boers digging defense works and building stone schanzes.
1978 in Dict. S. Afr. Eng. 218/1 The British thought the Boers would be hiding behind these skanses or heaps of stone.
Derivatives
schanze v. rare. transitive to fortify or protect with a schanse or schanses.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > fortify [verb (transitive)]
fastenOE
enfirm1297
ofstrengthc1325
strengthc1325
warnc1330
ward1340
warnestorec1374
abattlec1380
embattlec1380
fortify1436
bulwark1450
strengthen1450
bastille1480
enstrength1483
rempare1525
munite1533
fence1535
force1535
ranforce1547
rampire1550
fort1559
ramforce1570
fortificate1575
refortify1579
ensconce1590
munify1596
sconce1598
renforce1602
harness1611
munish1633
tackle1645
schanze1901
1901 Contemp. Rev. Dec. 888 The English had schanzed the long ridge for a long distance.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1880