, in Fortification, a ditch covered by a parapet, and serving as a communication between two trenches. It runs parallel to the works of the body of the place; and serves as a line of contravallation, both to hinder the sallies of the besieged, and to secure the miners. When it is a particular cut running from the trenches, to cover some spot of ground, it is drawn so as not to be ensiladed or scoured by the enemy's shot.
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Entry taken from A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, by Charles Hutton, 1796.
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