Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

enceinte

 
Dictionary: en·ceinte1   (ĕn-sānt', än-sănt') pronunciation
adj.
Carrying an unborn child; pregnant.

[French, from Old French, ultimately from Latin inciēns, pregnant.]


en·ceinte2 (ĕn-sānt', än-sănt', äN-săNt') pronunciation
n.
  1. An encircling fortification around a fort, castle, or town.
  2. A structure or an area protected by an encircling fortification.

[French, from Late Latin incīncta, from feminine past participle of incingere, to surround closely : Latin in-, in; see in-2 + Latin cingere, to gird.]


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Thesaurus: enceinte
Top

adjective

    Carrying a developing fetus within the uterus: big, expectant, expecting, gravid, parturient, pregnant. Slang gone. Archaic great. Idioms: in a family way, with child. See reproduction/barrenness.

Architecture: enceinte
Top

An enclosing wall; usually the principal perimeter of a medieval fort.


WordNet: enceinte
Top
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has one meaning:

Meaning #1: in an advanced stage of pregnancy
  Synonyms: big, expectant, gravid, great, large, heavy, with child


Wikipedia: Enceinte
Top
The keep of Vincennes protected by its own isolated enceinte

Enceinte (Lat. in, within, cinctus, girdled; to be distinguished from the word meaning pregnant, from in, not, and cinctus, i.e. with girdle loosened), is a French term used technically in fortification for the inner ring of fortifications surrounding a town.

Strictly, the term was applied to the continuous line of bastions and curtains forming the body of the place, this last expression being often used as synonymous with enceinte. However, the outworks or defensive wall close to the enceinte were not considered as forming part of it. In modern fortification, the enceinte is usually simply the innermost continuous line of fortifications.

In architecture, generally, an enceinte is the close or precinct of a cathedral, abbey, castle, etc.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.


 
 
Learn More
enseint
braie
crownwork

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Enceinte" Read more