1. (n.) Any construction, whether a temporary breastwork or permanent fortification, for attack or defense, the material of which is chiefly earth.

2. (n.) The operation connected with excavations and embankments of earth in preparing foundations of buildings, in constructing canals, railroads, etc.

3. (n.) An embankment or construction made of earth.

abatis advanced work arch dam backstop balistraria bamboo curtain bank banquette bar barbed-wire entanglement barbican barrage barricade barrier bartizan bastion battlement bear-trap dam beaver dam boom breakwater breastwork brick wall buffer bulkhead bulwark casemate cheval-de-frise circumvallation cofferdam contravallation counterscarp curtain dam defense demibastion dike ditch drawbridge embankment enclosure entanglement escarp escarpment fence fieldwork fortalice fortification gate glacis gravity dam groin hydraulic-fill dam iron curtain jam jetty leaping weir levee logjam loophole lunette machicolation mantelet merlon milldam moat mole mound outwork palisade parados parapet portcullis postern gate rampart ravelin redan redoubt roadblock rock-fill dam sally port scarp sconce seawall shutter dam stockade stone wall tenaille vallation vallum wall weir wicket dam work