boyau

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French boyau. Doublet of bowel.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbwɑːjəʊ/, /ˈbɔɪəʊ/

Noun

boyau (plural boyaus or boyaux)

1. (military) A small trench or ditch, typically built in a zigzag pattern, serving to connect or provide communication between two trenches, particularly the rear and front lines.
2. A line, drawn winding about, in order to enclose several tracts of land, or to attack some works.

Translations

passage connecting two trenches

• French: boyau (fr) m

References

• (military definition) Military Earthworks Terms, Historic Landscape Initiative, National Park Service. URL accessed 2007-01-29.
• (winding line definition) 1728, Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.

Anagrams

• Ayoub, Yoabu, bayou

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French boiel / boial, from Latin botellus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bwa.jo/, (dated) /bɔ.jo/

• Audio (France (Vosges)); /bɔ.jo/:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Noun

boyau m (plural boyaux)

1. (anatomy) gut, intestine (of an animal, or, informally of a human)

   Synonym: intestin

2. catgut, gut
3. (military) communication trench, boyau
   • 2016, Jacques Tardi, Dominique Grange, Le dernier assaut, Bruxelles; Paris: Casterman, →ISBN, page 11:

     On se roule une tige à la sortie du boyau, à la croix du Jesus.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. hose, e.g. a firehose

Descendants

• → English: boyau

See also

• entrailles

Further reading

• “boyau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.