bulwark

WOTD – 19 May 2009

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Middle High German, cognate with German Bollwerk, Danish bolværk, Dutch bolwerk. The first part is akin to bole (“trunk of a tree”). Cognates include boulevard (from French boulevard, from Dutch), Spanish baluarte and Italian baluardo.

Pronunciation

• enPR: bo͝ol'wərk, bo͝ol'wôrk, IPA^(key): /ˈbʊlwɝk/, /ˈbʊlwɔɹk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

bulwark (plural bulwarks)

1. A defensive wall or rampart.
2. A defense or safeguard.
   • Blackstone

     The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence, […] the floating bulwark of our island.

3. A breakwater.
4. (nautical) 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.

Translations

a defensive wall or rampart

• Arabic: حصن (ar) m (ḥiṣn)
• Armenian: հողապատնեշ (hołapatneš), բաստիոն (bastion)
• Bulgarian: редут m (redút), бастион m (bastión)
• Czech: val (cs) m
• Danish: bolværk n
• Dutch: bolwerk (nl) n
• Esperanto: remparo
• Finnish: suojamuuri, suojavalli
• French: rempart (fr) m
• German: Bollwerk n
• Hungarian: bástya (hu)
• Icelandic: bolvirki n, bolverk n
• Ido: remparo (io)

• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: កំពែង (km) (kɑmpɛɛng)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سه‌نگه‌ر (ku) (sangar)

• Maori: papatū, pākai
• Old Norse: bolvirki n
• Persian: بارو (fa) (bâru)
• Polish: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: baluarte (pt) m
• Russian: вал (ru) m (val), бастион (ru) m (bastión), редут (ru) m (redút)
• Scottish Gaelic: bàbhan m, mùr m
• Serbo-Croatian: bastion (sh) m
• Slovene: braník m
• Swedish: bålverk (sv) n

a defense or safeguard

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պատվար (patvar), պաշտպանություն (paštpanutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: опора (bg) f (opóra), защита (bg) f (zaštíta)
• Czech: záštita f
• Finnish: suojaus
• Hungarian: védelem (hu)
• Khmer: ការការពារ (kaa kaa pie)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سه‌نگه‌ر (ku) (sangar)

• Macedonian: насип m (násip)
• Persian: سنگر (fa) (sangar)
• Portuguese: baluarte (pt) m
• Russian: оплот (ru) m (oplót), защита (ru) f (zaščíta), опора (ru) f (opóra)

a breakwater

• Armenian: ծովապատնեշ (covapatneš)
• Bulgarian: вълнолом (bg) m (vǎlnolóm)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防波堤 (zh) (fángbōdī)

• Czech: vlnolam m
• Finnish: aallonmurtaja (fi)
• French: jetée (fr) f, brise-lames (fr) m
• German: Mole (de) f, Wellenbrecher m
• Hungarian: hullámtörő (hu)

• Japanese: 防波堤 (ぼうはてい, bōhatei)
• Khmer: ជញ្ជាំងការពារឆ្នេរសមុទ្រ (cʊəñceang kaa pie cneɛ sa’mot)
• Macedonian: насип m (násip)
• Polish: falochron (pl) m
• Portuguese: quebra-mar m
• Russian: мол (ru) m (mol), волнолом (ru) m (volnolóm), волнорез (ru) m (volnoréz), насыпь (ru) f (násypʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: doirlinn-fasgaidh m
• Ukrainian: хвилеріз m (xvyleríz)

(nautical) the planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale

• Bulgarian: фалшборд m (falšbórt)
• Czech: hrazení n
• Finnish: lisälaita
• French: bastingage (fr)
• Italian: impavesata (it) f

• Jèrriais: boulevard m
• Portuguese: amurada f
• Russian: фальшборт (ru) m (falʹšbórt)
• Spanish: amurada (es) f

Verb

bulwark (third-person singular simple present bulwarks, present participle bulwarking, simple past and past participle bulwarked)

1. (transitive) To fortify something with a wall or rampart.
2. (transitive) To provide protection of defense for something.