a line of strong fortifications built by the German army near the Franco-Belgian border in 1916–17: breached by the Allies in August 1918
Word origin
C20: named after Paul von Hindenburg
Hindenburg line in American English
noun
a line of elaborate fortifications established by the German army in World War I, near the French-Belgian border, from Lille SE to Metz
Word origin
[1915–20; named after P. von hindenburg]This word is first recorded in the period 1915–20. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: conditioning, decoder, feedback, soviet, takeout