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palisade(păl'ĭ-sād') |
To equip or fortify with palisades or a palisade.
[French palissade, from Old French, from Old Provençal palissada, from palissa, stake, from Vulgar Latin *pālīcea, from Latin pālus.]
| Word Overheard: palisade |
A report on a newly discovered civilization, which is thought to be Europe's oldest and which had a taste for gigantic temples, contained the following detail:
"The most complex excavated so far — located inside the city of Dresden — consisted of an apparently sacred internal space surrounded by two palisades, three earthen banks and four ditches."
Link: Found: Europe's oldest civilisation
Posted June 14, 2005.
See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words. 
| Architecture: palisade |
A series of stout poles, pointed on top and driven into the earth, used as a fence or fortification. Also see stockade.
| Archaeology Dictionary: palisade |
A stake-built or post-built defensive barrier, often on top of an embankment or rampart.
| Veterinary Dictionary: palisading |
Giving the appearance of palisades in a fence.
| Wikipedia: Palisade |
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.
Contents |
Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized trunks of trees aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks would be sharpened or pointed at the top end, and be driven into the ground on the other end. They would sometimes be reinforced with additional construction. The height of a palisade can range from a few feet or more to nearly ten feet. As a defensive structure, palisades were often used in conjunction with earthworks.
Palisades were an excellent option for small forts or other hastily constructed fortifications. Since they were wood, they could be quickly and easily built from materials readily available. They proved to be effective protection for short-term conflicts, and were an effective deterrent against small forces. However, due to their wooden construction, they were also very vulnerable to fire and siege weapons.
Often, a palisade would be constructed around a castle as a temporary wall until a permanent stone wall could be erected. They were frequently used in New France.
Both the Greeks and Romans created palisades to protect their military camps. The Roman historian Livy describes the Greek method as being inferior to that of the Romans during the Second Macedonian War. The Greek stakes were too large to be easily carried, and were spaced too far apart. This made it easy for enemies to uproot them and create a large enough gap in which to enter. In contrast, the Romans used smaller and easier to carry stakes which were placed closer together, making them more difficult to uproot. [1]
Many settlements of the Mississippian culture of the Southeastern United States also made use of palisades. The most prominent example is the Cahokia Mounds site in Collinsville, Illinois. A wooden stockade with a series of watchtowers or bastions at regular intervals formed a two-mile long enclosure around Monk's Mound and the Grand Plaza. Archaeologists found evidence of the stockade during excavation of the area and indications that it was rebuilt several times, in slightly different locations. The stockade seems to have separated Cahokia's main ceremonial precinct from other parts of the city, as well as being a defensive structure. [2]
Other examples include the Angel Mounds Site in Southern Indiana, the Kincaid Site in Illinois, the Parkin Site and the Nodena Sites in Southeastern Arkansas and the Etowah Site in Georgia.
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| Translations: Translations for: Palisade |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - skansepæl, pæleværk, palisade
v. tr. - palisadere
idioms:
Nederlands (Dutch)
palissade, schanspaal, (mv) rij hoge rotswanden, palissaderen
Français (French)
n. - palissade
v. tr. - clôturer
idioms:
Deutsch (German)
n. - Palisade
v. - mit einer Palisade versehen
idioms:
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πασσαλοφράχτης
v. - περιχαρακώνω (με πασσάλους)
idioms:
Italiano (Italian)
palizzata, recintare
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
n. - paliçada (f)
v. - cercar
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
палисад, частокол, огораживать
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
n. - empalizada, estacada, vallado
v. tr. - cercar, empalizar
idioms:
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - palissad, pålverk
v. - förse m. palissad
中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
木栅, 用栅栏围护
idioms:
中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 木柵
v. tr. - 用柵欄圍護
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 말뚝, 울타리, 벼랑
v. tr. - ~에 울타리를 치다
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 柵, 断崖, 杭
v. - 杭をめぐらす
idioms:
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) الحسيكه, أحد أوتاد الحسيكه, أجراف شاهقه شديد التحدر (فعل) يطوق أو يحصن بحسائك
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - שורת צוקים גבוהים, משוכה, גדר-מוטות
v. tr. - התקין גדר-מוטות
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Word Overheard. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Palisade". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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