noun
-
Also called: parapet. fortifications a temporary defensive work, usually breast-high
Etymology
Origin of breastwork
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
From behind this breastwork he addressed 45,000 persons on 48 occasions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hochwald is almost entirely on the surface, a two-mile breastwork of cement and steel blocking German advance and called by General Max "The Giant's Trenches."
From Time Magazine Archive
Johnny, from sheer high spirits, jumped the now deserted breastwork the British had thrown up so hastily the night before.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Beneath their gaze, upon the point closest to them, we have raised up a breastwork and a stockade, which fort we call Fort Hamond.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Gimli stood leaning against the breastwork upon the wall.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.