Search the Dictionary

to block up a road or harbor. With moles . . . would block the port. Rowe. A city . . . besieged and blocked about. Milton.

A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.

A winding or zigzag trench forming a path or communication from one siegework to another, to a magazine, etc.

strings like a purse. It is used for carrying powder from the magazine to the battery, in siege or seacoast service.

againts injury and violence, as for his repose. Coke. Our castle's strength Will laugh a siege to scorn. Shak.

A line of field works made around a besieged place and the besieging army, to protect the camp of the besiegers against the attack of an enemy from without.

A trench dug in the botton of a dry moat, and extending across it, to enable the besieged to defend it by a raking fire.

To inclose on all sides; to surround; to encircle; to envior; to invest; to besiege; -- used with about, round, around, and round about. With terrors and with clamors compassed round. Milton. Now all the blessings Of a glad cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round.uke xix. 43.

settle or adjust by conference, agreement, or consultation. It was concerted to begin the siege in March. Bp. Burnet.

ry on; as, to conduct the affairs of a kingdom. Little skilled in the art of conducting a siege. Prescott.

A trench guarded with a parapet, constructed by besiegers, to secure themselves and check sallies of the besieged.

(Fort.), a trench or work pushed forward from defensive works to meet the approaches of besiegers. See Approach. -- Counter bond (Law), in old practice, a bond to secure one who has given bond for another. -- Counter brace. See Counter brace, in Vocabulary. -- Counter deed (Law), a secret writing which destroys, inv…

A passage cut through the glacis to facilitate sallies by the besieged. Wilhelm.

or well, etc. The drew out the staves of the ark. 2 Chron. v. 9. Draw thee waters for the siege. Nahum iii. 14. I opened the tumor by the point of a lancet without drawing one drop of blood. Wiseman.

The surrender of a besieged fortress or town ; as, the fall of Sebastopol.

hopeless; desperate. For here forlorn and lost I tread. Goldsmith. The condition of the besieged in the mean time was forlorn in the extreme. Prescott. She cherished the forlorn hope that he was still living. Thomson. A forlorn hope Etym: [D. verloren hoop, prop., a lost band or troop; verloren, p.p. of verliezen to lo…

eter, to be thrown from the hand into the head of a sap, trenches, covered way, or upon besiegers mounting a breach. (b) A portable fire extinguisher consisting of a glass bottle containing water and gas. It is thrown into the flames. Called also fire grenade. Rampart grenades, grenades of various sizes, which, when us…

d; pregnant. [R.] Heavy artillery. (Mil.) (a) Guns of great weight or large caliber, esp. siege, garrison, and seacoast guns. (b) Troops which serve heavy guns. -- Heavy cavalry. See under Cavalry. -- Heavy fire (Mil.), a continuous or destructive cannonading, or discharge of small arms. -- Heavy metal (Mil.), large…

Chastity; modesty. Chaucer. To lay . . . siege to the honesty of this Ford's wife. Shak.

Without effect; in vain. Hereford . . . had been besieged for abouineffectually by the Scots. Ludlow.