Barbette

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet.

    "Cleverly camouflaged with grey felt, which exactly matched the colour of the walls, it led upwards to a barbette, or platform, perched beside the gate."

  2. 2
    (formerly) a mound of earth inside a fort from which heavy gun can be fired over the parapet wordnet
  3. 3
    The inside fixed trunk of a warship's gun-mounting, on which the turret revolves. It contains the hoists for shells and cordite from the shell-room and magazine.

    "The belted cruiser Pamiat Azova or Remembrance of Azoff, is 377 feet long. She is an improved Dmitri Dontskoi, and carries her two 8-inch guns in sponsoned barbettes on either broadside"

Example

More examples

"Cleverly camouflaged with grey felt, which exactly matched the colour of the walls, it led upwards to a barbette, or platform, perched beside the gate."

Etymology

Borrowed from French barbette.

Related phrases

barbette carriagebarbette gunen barbettein barbette

More for "barbette"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.