▪ I. debouch, v.
(dɪˈbuːʃ, ‖ debuʃ)
Also debouche.
[mod. a. F. débouche-r, in 17th c. desboucher, OF. desbouchier (13th c.), f. dé-:—des-, L. dis- (see de- I. 6) + bouche mouth. Cf. It. sboccare ‘to mouth or fall into the sea as a river’ (Florio).]
1. Milit. (intr.) To issue from a narrow or confined place, as a defile or a wood, into open country; hence gen. to issue or emerge from a narrower into a wider place or space.
| [1665 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 161 We have hardly any words that do so fully express the French..ennui, bizarre, débouche.. Let us therefore..make as many of these do homage as are like to prove good citizens.] 1760 Lond. Mag. XXIX. 177 We saw the column of infantry debouching into Minden plain. 1812 Examiner 24 Aug. 531/2 These two companies gave the..cavalry time to debouche. 1813 Ibid. 7 June 355/2 General Bertrand..appearing to intend debouching from Jaselitz upon the enemy's right. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg.: Leech of Folkestone (1877) 370 The travellers debouched on the open plain on Aldington Frith. |
| fig. 1839 Times 4 Oct., Mr. Labouchere debouches upon the cabinet. |
2. transf. Of a ravine, river, etc.: To issue as at a mouth or outlet into a wider place or space.
| 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 168 This little stream that debouches from the lake. 1850 B. Taylor Eldorado xxii. (1862) 236 The ravine finally debouched upon the river at the Middle Bar. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. I. viii. 167 Nakidino Creek, into which an important stream debouches. |
3. trans. (causal). To lead forth into open ground; to provide an outlet for.
| 1745 D. Forbes in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. IV. 355 No more than a hundred and fifty or a hundred and sixty of the Mackenzies have been debouched. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. xxiii. (1855) 190 Huge outlets which débouche the waters. |
▪ II. deˈbouch, n. rare.
Also debouche.
[f. prec. vb.]
= next (sense 1).
| 1813 Examiner 7 June 354/2 Fortified rising points, which defended the debouches from the Spree. Ibid. 3 May 274/2 The debouch from the Hartz. 1823 Southey Hist. Penins. War I. 696 The debouches of Villarcayo, Orduña, and Munguia. |