bulwark
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
bulwark
- /ˈbʊl.wək/ Australia, UK
- /ˈbʊl.wɚk/ US
- /ˈbʉl.wəɹk/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Where it comes from
From Middle English bulwerk, from Middle Dutch bolwerk, bolwerc and Middle Low German bolwerk, equivalent to bole (“tree trunk”) + work. Cognate with German Bollwerk, Danish bolværk, Swedish bålverk, Dutch bolwerk. Doublet of boulevard (from French boulevard, from Dutch); cognate with Portuguese and Spanish baluarte and Italian baluardo.
noun bulwarks
- A defensive wall or rampart. Let thouſands die, their ſlaughtered Carkaſſes Shal ſerue for walles and bulwarkes to the reſt:
- A defense or safeguard. The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence, […] the floating bulwark of the island.
- A breakwater.
- The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard. Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft.
- Any means of defence or security. The party stalwarts constitute the bulwark that ensures the president's term of office.
verb bulwarks · bulwarking · bulwarked
- To fortify something with a wall or rampart.
- To provide protection of defense for something.
