parapet
(ˈpærəpɪt)
Also 7 -pett, -pit.
[a. F. parapet (Rabelais 16th c.), or It. parapetto, f. para-2 protection, defence + petto:—L. pectus breast.]
lit. A defence breast-high, a breastwork.
1. Mil. A defence of earth or stone to cover troops from the enemy's observation and fire; in permanent works, a protection against shot, raised on the top of a wall or rampart; in field-works, a bank of earth high enough to screen the defenders and thick enough to resist any shot that is likely to be discharged against it. spec. a bank of earth in front of a military trench. Also fig.
| [1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 83 b, The Enemie had with batterie, greatly decaied the Bulwarke, Parapetti, Maisons, houses, Cloisters and Churches.] 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. iii. ii, It must have..parapets to hide the musketeers, Casemates to place the great artillery. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 55. 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. §73 A transmittible Gallery over any Ditch or Breach in a Town-wall, with a Blinde and Parapit Cannon-proof. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. x. 410 A soldier..stalkt about on the parapet with a battle-ax in his hand. 1803 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. I. 444 It wants..the earth which has been washed from the parapet into the ditch to be cleared out. 1861 W. H. Russell in Times 10 July, Higher up..there is a breastwork and parapet, within which are six guns. 1916 J. Buchan Greenmantle xx. 266 A crump took the parapet of the trench. 1918 ‘R. West’ Return of Soldier i. 6 On the war-films I have seen men slip down..from the trench parapet. 1928 Blunden Undertones of War 317 It seems, as now I wake and brood, And know my hour's decrepitude, That on some dewy parapet The centuries' spirit gazes yet. 1929 ‘C. Edmonds’ Subaltern's War i. 25 A head and shoulders, seen from the sniper's loophole, leaping past a gap in the enemy's parapet. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable 25 He saw only a few figures crouching along his own parapet. 1975 Times 14 July 13/1 The Leader of the House, to whom the Prime Minister..will yield the honour of going over the parapet first. 1975 Listener 14 Aug. 207/1 Some TV performers..have been howitzered into the mud... A few have had the sense to learn..to keep their heads behind the parapet. 1977 H. Fast Immigrants iii. 171 The men were leaning high on the parapet, staring out over the ruptured, wire⁓strewn earth that separated them from the enemy. |
2. a. A low wall or barrier, placed at the edge of a platform, balcony, roof, etc., or along the sides of a bridge, pier, quay, etc., to prevent people from falling over; sometimes mainly or wholly ornamental.
| 1598 Florio, Parapetto,..a parapet or wall breast high. 1706 Phillips, Parapet (Ital. in Masonry), a Wall or Balcony Breast-high, ranging about a Pillar, Tower, Steeple, or other Building. a 1720 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 224 [The roof] defended by a parapet of ballusters. 1772 C. Hutton Bridges 96. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 310. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, The terrace surrounded with a stone parapet in front of the house. 1879 Black Macleod of D. xxxvi. 320 Sitting on the weather-worn parapet of the bridge. |
b. transf. Anything resembling a parapet in appearance or use.
| 1636 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 744/1 There was a wall or parapet of teeth set in our mouth, to restrain the petulancy of our words. 1823 F. Clissold Ascent Mt. Blanc 21 After some hundred feet of ascent, we found ourselves opposed by a parapet of congealed snow, about eight feet high. 1837 Southey Wks. I. p. xvii, The brows of the Surrey hills bear a parapet of modern villas. 1877 Bryant Little People of Snow 64 [Winter] threw Spangles of silvery frost upon the grass, And edged the brook with glistening parapets. |
† c. Her. A representation of a parapet. Obs.
| 1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry iii. iv. 34 The Mural Crown was raised with Brectesches, parapects, and Battlements of Gold. |
3. Locally, The side-walk, footpath, or pavement of a street or road.
The ordinary name in Chester, Liverpool, and the district from Crewe to Lancaster, but disappearing eastward.
| 1795 Gen. Hist. Liverpool 273 The foot paths here are called parapets. 1840 (‘Well known in Liverpool.’ E.L.B.). 1871 in Hoppe Suppl. Lex. (erron. ‘North Eng. and Sc.’). 1900 (‘The regular name in Ormskirk.’ H.J.R.M.). 1900 M. E. Francis Daughter of the Soil iii. 26 Occasionally, to the terror of her mistress, hoisting one wheel of the bath-chair on the parapet. [1904 See Manch. City News Jan. 23–Feb. 20, ‘Notes & Q.’] |
4. attrib. and Comb., as parapet bank, parapet mounting, parapet walk; also parapet line, the line or level of the bottom of the parapet, esp. on a roof; parapet wall, a low wall serving as a parapet.
| 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 69 The Side-walks..to be six Feet in the Clear, between the Parapet-Walls. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 77 The fence is a high broad parapet bank. 1862 T. A. Trollope Marietta I. x. 185 A low parapet wall defended it from the edge of the rock. 1882 O'Donovan Merv Oasis I. ii. 38 The ancient chief entrance above which the parapet walk is continued. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 284 Wykeham's gateway-tower [at Magdalen Coll., Oxford] rises plain and square above the parapet-line of the chambers. Ibid. 285. 1914 Illustr. London News 29 Aug. 332/2 A Hotchkiss machine-gun on a parapet mounting. |
Hence ˈparapet v., chiefly in ˈparapeted ppl. a., furnished with or defended by a parapet; ˈparapetless a., without a parapet.
| 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. iii. vi. (1810) 548 A place naturally formed like a platforme, and parrapetted with an old ditch. 1827 Southey Hist. Penins. War II. 108 The housetops were parapeted to secure the defendants. 1859 Chamb. Jrnl. XI. 325 A perilous bridge;..high, parapetless. 1869 Pall Mall G. 15 July 1 A wider parapeted trench..designed for two rows of infantry. |