▪ I. enfilade, n.
(ɛnfɪˈleɪd)
[a. Fr. enfilade, f. enfiler to thread on a string, hence to pierce or traverse from end to end, f. en- (see en- prefix1) + fil thread.]
† 1. A suite of apartments, whose doorways are placed opposite to each other. Hence in phrase, in enfilade. Also applied to a long ‘vista’, as between rows of trees, etc. Obs.
| 1705–30 S. Gale in Nichols Bibl. Topogr. Brit. III. 41 Rooms which..are placed in enfilade. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Garden, Groves form'd of Rows of Fruit-trees and Forest-trees..make..very agreeable Enfilades. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 265 An enfilade of correspondent gates. 1779 Swinburne Trav. Spain xxxviii, The trees have swelled out beyond the line traced for them, and destroyed the enfilade, by advancing into the walks, or retiring from them. 1805 H. Repton Landsc. Garden. (ed. 2) 105 A magnificent enfilade through a long line of principal apartments. |
2. Mil. † a. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1706 Phillips, Enfilade [in Military Affairs] is the Situation of a Post, so that it can discover and scour all the length of a straight line. 1715 in Kersey. 1721–1800 in Bailey. |
b. A ‘fire’ from artillery or musketry which sweeps a line of works or men from one end to the other. Also attrib. in enfilade fire.
| 1796–7 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 175 Its [the echelon's] prolongation shall not be exposed to an enfilade. 1803 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. II. 286 You would have iron guns instead of brass for your enfilade. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) IV. xii. 255 Threatening..his batteries with an enfilade fire. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. liv. 425 The space within the works..was exposed to enfilade. |
▪ II. enfilade, v.
(ɛnfɪˈleɪd)
[f. prec. n.]
† 1. trans. To set (trees) so as to form an enfilade. Obs. (nonce-use.)
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Quincunx, Take care that the trees be well squar'd or laid out by a line, and, as it were, enfiladed one with another. |
2. Mil. To subject to an enfilade; to ‘rake’ or to be in a position to ‘rake’ (a line of fortification, a line of troops, a road, etc.) from end to end with a fire in the direction of its length.
| 1706 Phillips, Enfilade, or Enfile the Courtin, Rampart, etc., is to scour or sweep the whole length of such a Work with the Shot. a 1755 Expedition to Carthagena (J.), The avenues, being cut through the wood in right lines, were enfiladed by the Spanish cannon. 1772 T. Simes Mil. Guide, A work is said to be enfiladed when a gun can be fired into it, so that the shot may go all along the inside of the parapet. 1828 Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 357 This success made it an operation of no difficulty to enfilade the enemy's position on the left bank. 1846 Prescott Ferd. & Is. I. v. 237 The bridge..was enfiladed by the enemy's cannon. 1879 Low Jrnl. Gen. Abbott iv. 333 Our course..was completely enfiladed by a stone breastwork. |
b. transf.
| a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 413 The level beams of the rising or setting sun as they happened to enfilade the gorge. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs (1872) 119 The bow-window of the Club..enfilades Pall Mall. |
Hence enfiˈladed ppl. a., enfiˈlading ppl. a.
| 1812 Examiner 14 Sept. 581/1 Two enfiladed batteries. 1828 Spearman Brit. Gunner 33 The continued fire of the first or enfilading batteries. 1866 Harvard Mem. Biog. N. L. Abbott II. 101 The Twentieth..advanced..under an enfilading fire of artillery. |