RAMPART • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Rampart

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noun

Rampart n.

That which fortifies and defends from assault; that which secures safety; a defense or bulwark.

(Fort.) A broad embankment of earth round a place, upon which the parapet is raised. It forms the substratum of every permanent fortification.

Synonyms: Bulwark; fence; security; guard. Rampart, Bulwark. These words were formerly interchanged; but in modern usage a distinction has sprung up between them. The rampart of a fortified place is the enceinte or entire main embankment or wall which surrounds it. The term bulwark is now applied to peculiarly strong outworks which project for the defense of the rampart, or main work. A single bastion is a bulwark. In using these words figuratively, rampart is properly applied to that which protects by walling out; bulwark to that which stands in the forefront of danger, to meet and repel it. Hence, we speak of a distinguished individual as the bulwark, not the rampart, of the state. This distinction, however, is often disregarded.

verb

Rampart v. t. (past & past part. ramparted; pres. part. ramparting) To surround or protect with, or as with, a rampart or ramparts. "Those grassy hills, those glittering dells, Proudly ramparted with rocks."

Rampart gun (Fort.), a cannon or large gun for use on a rampart and not as a fieldpiece.

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Etymology of 'Rampart'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Rampart" Quotes from Famous Books

... formed that the horizontal beams or planks could be fitted into them without the use of nails, while they were supported from the inside by beams placed at an angle to serve as buttresses. Near to the top of the wall was a platform which ran round the whole of the palisades, and served as a rampart from which to fire down on an enemy. Such a structure would have been easily destroyed by fire, but the deep trench which ran in front prevented that danger, and the wooden wall was thus well calculated to resist any attack which the Zulus were likely to make against it. Inside the fortifications, ...

— Hendricks the Hunter - The Border Farm, a Tale of Zululand • W.H.G. Kingston

... hung unused. While all the people stood aside with awe, And to their children pointed out the man Who plead the shepherd's cause before the king. At length he passed the city's western gate, And crossed the little plain circling its walls. Circled itself by five bold hills that rise, A rugged, rampart and an outer wall. Two outer gates this mountain rampart had, The one a narrow valley opening west Toward Gaya, through the red Barabar hills. Through which the rapid Phalgu swiftly glides, Down from the Vindhya mountains far away, Then gently winds ...

— The Dawn and the Day • Henry Thayer Niles

... saucer-shaped opening Hollister had discovered. The edges of this rose somewhat above the surrounding ground. Using their spurs to dig with, the cowpunchers deepened the hollow and packed the loose dirt around the rim in order to heighten the rampart. ...

— The Fighting Edge • William MacLeod Raine

... the broad veranda, and lingered long in awe and wonder of the outlook. To the west lay a glorious garden of fruits and flowers; a fountain was playing over the rich green grass; high above the tops of the pear and peach trees (which made a little copse) rose the purple peaks of the Rampart range. ...

— Money Magic - A Novel • Hamlin Garland

... it was their last earthly cry, since at that moment a sheet of flame burst from the rampart of the camp, followed by the boom of the cannon, and six pounds of canister swept through the crowd. Right through them it swept, leaving a wide lane of dead and dying; and such a shriek went up to heaven as even that place of ...

— The People Of The Mist • H. Rider Haggard

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