different between breastwork vs barbette

English

Etymology

breast +? work

Pronunciation

Noun

breastwork (plural breastworks)

1. A fortification consisting of a breast-high bulwark; a parapet.
2. (nautical) A railing on the quarter-deck and forecastle.
   • 1878, J. W. King, Report of Chief Engineer J. W. King, United States Navy On European Ships of War and Their Armament, Naval Administration and Economy, Marine Constructions and Appliances, Dockyards, etc., etc., Washington, p. 287, [2]

     The Independencia is a two-turreted, breastwork ship of 9,000 tons displacement. […] The central breastwork is 130 feet in length at the top of the belt, and extends to the upper deck, 11 feet above the water-line. This breastwork incloses the boiler and engine hatches, the scuttles to magazines and shell-rooms, the principal openings for ventilation, and the two turrets.

3. A parapet.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Episode 2

     A swarthy boy opened a book and propped it nimbly under the breastwork of his satchel. He recited jerks of verse with odd glances at the text:

4. (slang) Breast augmentation.

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French barbette.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b???b?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

barbette (plural barbettes)

1. A mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet.
   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 276:

     Cleverly camouflaged with grey felt, which exactly matched the colour of the walls, it led upwards to a barbette, or platform, perched beside the gate.

2. (nautical) The inside fixed trunk of a warship's gun-mounting, on which the turret revolves. It contains the hoists for shells and cordite from the shell-room and magazine.
   • 1899, John Scott-Keltie (editor), Statesman's Year-Book 1899

     The belted cruiser Pamiat Azova or Remembrance of Azoff, is 377 feet long. She is an improved Dmitri Dontskoi, and carries her two 8-inch guns in sponsoned barbettes on either broadside

Derived terms

• barbette gun
• barbette carriage
• en barbette, in barbette

French

Etymology

From barbe +? -ette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba?.b?t/

Noun

barbette f (plural barbettes)

1. (obsolete) small beard
2. (archaic) cowl
3. (fortifications) barbette

Further reading

• “barbette” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

barbette f

1. plural of barbetta