circumvallatory

English

Etymology

From circumvallation +‎ -ory.

Adjective

circumvallatory (not comparable)

  1. (rare) Having the nature of a circumvallation; consisting of a rampart or trench that entirely encircles the position being defended.
    • 1834, Josiah Priest, American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West‎[1], page 110:
      LEXINGTON, in Kentucky, stands partly on the site of an ancient town, which was of great extent and magnificence, as is amply evinced by the wide range of its circumvallatory works, and the quantity of ground it once occupied.
    • 1852 [1836], Edgar Allan Poe, “A Tale of Jerusalem”, in James Albert Harrison, editor, The works of the late Edgar Allan Poe, II: Poems and Miscellanies, New York: J. S. Redfield, page 216:
      Here a broad, deep, circumvallatory trench, hewn from the solid rock, was defended by a wall of great strength erected upon its inner edge.
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