Crossword clues for bivouac
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bivouac \Biv"ouac\, n. [F. bivouac, bivac, prab. fr. G. beiwache, or beiwacht; bei by, near + wachen to watch, wache watch, guard. See By, and Watch.] (Mil.)
The watch of a whole army by night, when in danger of surprise or attack.
An encampment for the night without tents or covering.
Bivouac \Biv"ouac\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bivouacked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Bivouacking.] (Mil.)
To watch at night or be on guard, as a whole army.
To encamp for the night without tents or covering.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1702, from French bivouac (17c.), ultimately from Swiss/Alsatian biwacht "night guard," from bei- "double, additional" + wacht "guard" (see wait (v.)). Original meaning was an army that stayed up on night watch; sense of "outdoor camp" is 1853. Not a common word in English before the Napoleonic Wars. Italian bivacco is from French. As a verb, 1809, "to post troops in the night;" meaning "camp out of doors" is from 1814.
Wiktionary
n. 1 An encampment for the night, usually without tents or covering. 2 Any temporary encampment. 3 (context dated English) The watch of a whole army by night, when in danger of surprise or attack. vb. 1 To set up camp. 2 To watch at night or be on guard, as a whole army. 3 To encamp for the night without tents or covering.
WordNet
n. temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers; "wherever he went in the camp the men were grumbling" [syn: camp, encampment, cantonment]
a site where people on holiday can pitch a tent [syn: campsite, campground, camping site, camping ground, encampment, camping area]
v. live in or as if in a tent; "Can we go camping again this summer?"; "The circus tented near the town"; "The houseguests had to camp in the living room" [syn: camp, encamp, camp out, tent]
[also: bivouacking, bivouacked]
Wikipedia
Bivouac may refer to:
- Bivouac Peak, a mountain in the Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
- A military camp
- Bivouac shelter
- Bivouac sack, or "bivy sack" or bivy bag, an extremely lightweight alternative to traditional tent systems
- Bivouac (ants), an ant nest constructed out of the living ant worker's own bodies
A bivouac is a structure formed by migratory driver ant and army ant colonies, such as the species Eciton burchellii. A nest is constructed out of the living ant workers' own bodies to protect the queen and larvae, and is later deconstructed as the ants move on. A two part documentary series filmed on location at La Selva Biological Field Station in Costa Rica describes the natural history of Army ants including the bivouac formation in exquisite detail.
Army ants can forage and feed on insects over large areas of more than 1,800 square yards in a single day, so they must constantly move to new areas. During what is called the migratory phase, the ants set up bivouacs at new sites each night. As many as 150,000 to 700,000 worker bodies cover and protect the queen, linking legs and bodies in a mass that measures a metre across. Thousands of larvae are located near the centre with the queen, and workers are responsible for feeding them. Larger workers also serve as porters, carrying larvae to new bivouacs. In the morning, the bivouac dissolves into raiding columns that form a fan-shaped front. These raiding columns can travel up to 20 metres per hour with lead workers laying a chemical trail for other workers to follow. Smaller workers lead the column, while larger, formidable soldiers protect the flanks.
Bivouac is the second album by American punk band Jawbreaker, released on Tupelo Recording Company and Communion Records in 1992.
Bivouac were a British alternative rock band from Derby who were active in the 1990s. They released two albums on the independent label Elemental, before being signed by DGC/Geffen for the 1995 album Full Size Boy.
Usage examples of "bivouac".
Here they went ashore to a wretched bivouac, to lie about the camp fires, with their belts drawn tight, chewing grass or aromatic leaves to allay their hunger.
The sickness upset them for the day, so that the force remained there, at bivouac in the village, until the next morning.
The river went brawling past their bivouac at a little distance, and some of the men caught fish, and broiled them in the coals for their suppers.
Other wounded men walked away from the battle, staggering in the sun towards their old bivouac areas.
The Quartermasters marked bivouac areas for the various battalions in the soaking fields.
Charlie Weller, who was allowed to bivouac with the veterans because they liked him, plucked a head of soaking wet rye and shook his head sadly.
Jensens were talking as they walked across the clearing from their bivouac tent.
Ruth smoothed the un-smoothable cloth of her bivouac slacks, like a woman not used to being without a skirt.
McAuliff, Sam Tucker, and Alison sat around a small bivouac table, the light of the dying fires flickering across their faces as they talked quietly.
As they neared the bivouac area, black men in rags could be seen in the bush, the early dawn light shafting through the dense foliage, intermittently reflecting off the barrels of their weapons.
But Echo and George companies had finally reached the bivouac areas that the recon platoons had found for them, scattered through two deep gullies and a patch of thick scrub forest where the two gullies met.
They had moved in and made their bivouac at the foot of an old abandoned railroad embankment that jutted up nudely out of the scrubby liana and keawe jungle a couple of hundred yards inside the fence.
Prew explained, as they started back up toward the bivouac, them on one side, Slade on the other, stumbling over roots and bumping into branches.
Infantry, soldier, we do not allow men from other outfits to hang around our bivouac area.
Weary looked at him and shook his head and put the tailgate up and drove off down the gravel toward the bivouac, carrying two drunks, who both fatuously drunkenly imagined, that once in a dream somewhere, sometime, somespace, they had managed for a moment to touch another human soul and understand it.