Glacis

Definitions

1. A gentle incline.
2. An administrative district of Seychelles.
3. A gentle sloping landform created by the deposition or erosion of material.
4. A gentle incline in front of a fortification which protects it from cannon fire and exposes attackers to more effective return fire from defenders.
   also, figuratively
5. In full glacis plate: the angled armour plate on the front of a tank which protects it from projectiles; also (often nautical), such a plate protecting an opening (for example, on a ship).
6. A device for sorting mail which slides parcels across a sloped surface.

Equivalents

Examples

“The foam of these great ruins mounts in an instant to the ridge of the sand glacis, swiftly fleets back again, and is met and buried by the next breaker.”

“[T]ook his place⟳ with solemn / Air 'midst the rest⟳, who kept their valiant faces / And levelled weapons still against the glacis.”

“[T]heir hearts had failed them at the silence and the blaze of lighted ships from end⟳ to end⟳ of the harbour, with eerie beams of the searchlights revealing the bleakness of the glacis they would have⟳ to cross.”

CEFR level