rampart

/ˌræmˈpɑrt/

/ˈræmpɑt/

Other forms: ramparts

If you are building a sand castle and want it to be extra realistic, don’t forget the rampart. This protective wall may not keep the ocean away, but it might intimidate a few hostile hermit crabs.

This noun is derived from the French verb remparer, meaning “to fortify,” and dates back to the 16th century. This usually refers to a large defensive wall surrounding a castle, but can be a barrier built along a road or an embankment constructed alongside a river. This word is famously used in the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States: “O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming...”

Definitions of rampart

1. noun

   an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
   “they stormed the ramparts of the city”

   synonyms: bulwark, wall

   examples:

   Antonine Wall

   a fortification 37 miles long across the narrowest part of southern Scotland (between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde); built in 140 to mark the frontier of the Roman province of Britain

   Great Wall of China

   a fortification 1,500 miles long built across northern China in the 3rd century BC; it averages 6 meters in width

   types:

   bailey

   the outer defensive wall that surrounds the outer courtyard of a castle

   battlement, crenelation, crenellation

   (architecture) a rampart built around the top of a castle, city wall, or other structure, with regular gaps for firing weapons

   earthwork

   an earthen rampart

   fraise

   sloping or horizontal rampart of pointed stakes

   merlon

   a solid section between two crenels in a crenelated battlement

   sconce

   a small fort or earthwork defending a ford, pass, or castle gate

   type of:

   embankment

   a long artificial mound of stone or earth; built to hold back water or to support a road or as protection