RAVELIN

, in Fortification, was anciently a flat bastion, placed in the middle of a curtain. But

Ravelin is now a detached work, composed only of two faces, which form a salient angle usually without flanks. Being a triangular work resembling the point of a Bastion with the flanks cut off. It raised before the curtain, on the counterscarf of the place; and serving to cover it and the adjacent flanks from the direct fire of an enemy. It is also used to cover a bridge or a gate, and is always placed without the moat.

There are also double Ravelins, which serve to defend each other; being so called when they are joined by a curtain.

What the engineers call a Ravelin, the men usually call a demilune, or halfmoon.

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Entry taken from A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, by Charles Hutton, 1796.

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RARITY
RATCH
RATCHETS
RATIO
RATIONAL
* RAVELIN
RAY
REAUMUR (Rene - Antoine - Ferchault, Sieur de)
RECEIVER
RECEPTION
RECIPROCAL