Crossword clues for bulwark
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bulwark \Bul"wark\, n. [Akin to D. bolwerk, G. bollwerk, Sw. bolwerk, Dan. bolv["a]rk, bulv["a]rk, rampart; akin to G. bohle plank, and werk work, defense. See Bole stem, and Work, n., and cf. Boulevard.]
(Fort.) A rampart; a fortification; a bastion or outwork.
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That which secures against an enemy, or defends from attack; any means of defense or protection.
The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense, . . . the floating bulwark of our island.
--Blackstone. -
pl. (Naut.) The sides of a ship above the upper deck, usually a fencelike structure around the deck.
Syn: See Rampart.
Bulwark \Bul"wark\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bulwarked; p. pr. & vb. n. Bulwarking.] To fortify with, or as with, a rampart or wall; to secure by fortification; to protect.
Of some proud city, bulwarked round and armed
With rising towers.
--Glover.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"planking or woodwork round the uppermost parts of a vessel," early 15c., from Middle Dutch bulwerke or Middle High German bolwerc, probably from bole "plank, tree trunk" (from Proto-Germanic *bul-, from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell;" see bole) + werc "work" (see work (n.)). Figurative sense "means of defense or security" is from 1570s.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A defensive wall or rampart. 2 A defense or safeguard. 3 A breakwater. 4 (context nautical English) The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To fortify something with a wall or rampart. 2 (context transitive English) To provide protection of defense for something.
WordNet
v. defend with a bulwark
n. an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes; "they stormed the ramparts of the city"; "they blew the trumpet and the walls came tumbling down" [syn: rampart, wall]
a fence-like structure around a deck [syn: bulwarks]
a protective structure of stone or concrete; extends from shore into the water to prevent a beach from washing away [syn: breakwater, groin, groyne, mole, seawall, jetty]
Wikipedia
A bulwark or bastion is a feature of some fortifications.
Bulwark may also refer to:
Bulwark (Oswald Boeglin) is a fictional mutant character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an antagonist of Generation X in Generation X #11.
Usage examples of "bulwark".
CAPTAIN CAUTION 333 Sailors filled the waist of the barque from larboard to starboard bulwarks.
It was late afternoon of a chill October day when the barque skirted the tumbled rocks of Roscoff and, with her bulwarks and rigging studded thick with sea-weary sailors, ran close-hauled for the high-banked estuary at the end of which lies Morlaix.
Six small bronze cannon rested with their muzzles bowsed up against the bulwarks on each side of the craft.
I went over the bulwarks at last and crept to the capstan, holding my knife and marlinspike in my left hand.
At this moment, leaning on the forecastle bulwark, I saw below me Ned Land grappling the martingale in one hand, brandishing his terrible harpoon in the other, scarcely twenty feet from the motionless animal.
It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being.
In the flashes of gunfire he saw Jackson standing on the bulwark carefully aiming a musketoon, methodically aiming and firing it and passing it down to be reloaded, while another loaded one was handed up to him.
More men were hauling a cable up from the bowels of the Principessa and a line was passed over the shattered bulwarks of the Mercury and led forward.
Suddenly, all her newfound toughness was no bulwark against resurgent grief.
At the top of the hill, under shadow of the old bulwarks, he turned and looked back upon the flat Marshland, intersected with the slivery ribboned water of the dykes, and spread out beneath him like a vast map.
If you were worthy of such loyalty from stouthearted men, Oriosa would be a bulwark against Chytrine.
In the excitement that followed the calling of the Mormons to arms and the preparations for the defense would Strang, the master of the kingdom, the bulwark of his people, waste priceless time in carrying out the purpose for which he had sent for Marion?
The commons were only devising by what means they should re-establish the tribunitian power, that bulwark of their liberty, a thing now so long discontinued.
Without delay or opposition, the naval forces of the Saracens passed through the unguarded channel of the Hellespont, which even now, under the feeble and disorderly government of the Turks, is maintained as the natural bulwark of the capital.
Across from where I stood, nestled in a protecting bulwark formed by the massive trunks of two fallen trees, battled the last remnant of Legio Valeria Victrix, staunch beneath the much-battered golden boar.