breakwater
(ˈbreɪkwɔːtə(r))
[f. break v. + water.]
1. Anything that breaks the force of the waves at a particular place, esp. a solid structure of rubble and masonry erected to form or protect a harbour, etc.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Break-water, the..hull of some old..vessel, sunk at the entrance of a small harbour, to..diminish the force of the waves. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §100 The house-reef may..be considered as a pier, break-water, or bulwark to vessels lying there. 1846 G. N. Wright Cream Sci. Knowledge 58 The most remarkable Break-waters are those of Cherbourg in France, and Plymouth in England. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. iii. 36 This berg is a moving break-water. 1857 Page Adv. Textbk. Geol. iii. 60 And present breakwater-like their natural slopes to the action of the waves. |
| fig. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. 332 A breakwater..to protect from that grinding oppression of the poor by the poor. 1875 Fortn. Rev. Mar. 333 A religious breakwater. |
2. In other uses:
a. A groyne or barrier on the beach to retain shingle;
b. (See
quot. 1769).
| 1721 Perry Daggenh. Breach 116 Several low narrow Jetties, (or Break-Waters) extending from the top of the Beach down to the Low Water Mark. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Break-water is also a sort of small buoy, fastened to a large one in the water, when the buoy-rope of the latter is not long enough to reach from the anchor..to the surface of the water. The use of this break-water is therefore to shew where the buoy swims. |