‖ camouflet Mil.
(kamufle)
[Fr.: see Littré.]
1. A mine containing a small charge of powder, placed in a wall of earth between the galleries of besieged and besieger, so as, in exploding, to bury, suffocate, or cut off the retreat of the miner on the opposite side; a ‘stifler’.
| 1836 in Penny Cycl. VI. 197/1 Camouflet or Stifler. 1847 in Craig. |
2. A subterranean cavity formed by a bomb exploding beneath the surface of the earth.
| 1941 Nature 17 May 596/2 If the bomb is too deep, the breaking of the surface does not occur; it is simply heaved up and drops back more or less into place. This is called a ‘camouflet’. |