| 释义 |
counterfort|ˈkaʊntəfɔət|
[ad. F. contrefort or It. contraforte (Florio): see counter-.]
1. A buttress or projecting piece of masonry to support and strengthen a wall or terrace:
a. in Fortif.
1590Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. iii. ii, The bulwarks and the rampires [must be] large and strong, With cavalieros and thick counterforts. 1599Minsheu Sp. Dict., Contra⁓fuerte, a counterfort or skonce. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Counter-forts (in Fortif.) are certain Pillars and Parts of the Walls of a Place, distant from 15 to 20 Foot one from another. 1828J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 353 For full scarpe revêtements..the length of the counterforts should be one-fifth of their height. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 269 The counterfort joins the escarp.
fig.1877Wraxall Hugo's Misér. ii. lxx, Mitchell's brigade, and Maitland's guards, as epaulments and counterforts.
b. in Arch.
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Counterforts, Buttresses, or Spurs, are pillars of masonry, serving to prop or sustain walls or terrasses, subject to buldge, or be thrown down. 1861Smiles Engineers II. 210 The quay-wall was..strengthened at the back by strong counter-forts. 1887W. G. Palgrave Ulysses 30 The path..is kept in fairly good order, propped up by stone counterforts.
2. transf. A lateral spur projecting from a mountain or mountain-chain.
[1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xiii. 163 Rocks..acting as contreforts or supports to the higher mountain summit.] 1847Grote Greece ii. xxv. IV. 16 Between the..gulf and the eastern counterforts of Olympus and Bermius.
†3. nonce-use. A fort raised by the besiegers, an opposing fort. [f. counter- 3.]
a1640Jackson Creed xii. xvi. Wks. XII. 128 We are to shake these two rotten foundations whereon their arguments..are grounded..Our first counterfort shall be this. |