moat
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Moat \Moat\, n. [OF. mote hill, dike, bank, F. motte clod, turf:
cf. Sp. & Pg. mota bank or mound of earth, It. motta clod,
LL. mota, motta, a hill on which a fort is built, an
eminence, a dike, Prov. G. mott bog earth heaped up; or perh.
F. motte, and OF. mote, are from a LL. p. p. of L. movere to
move (see {Move}). The name of moat, properly meaning, bank
or mound, was transferred to the ditch adjoining: cf. F. dike
and ditch.] (Fort.)
A deep trench around the rampart of a castle or other
fortified place, sometimes filled with water; a ditch.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ditch \Ditch\ (?; 224), n.; pl. {Ditches}. [OE. dich, orig. the
same word as dik. See {Dike}.]
1. A trench made in the earth by digging, particularly a
trench for draining wet land, for guarding or fencing
inclosures, or for preventing an approach to a town or
fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a {moat}
or a {fosse}.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any long, narrow receptacle for water on the surface of
the earth.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
149 Moby Thesaurus words for "moat":
abri, abysm, abyss, approach trench, aqueduct, arch dam, arroyo,
backstop, bamboo curtain, bank, bar, barrage, barrier,
bear-trap dam, beaver dam, boom, box canyon, breach, break,
breakwater, breastwork, brick wall, buffer, bulkhead, bulwark,
bunker, canal, canalization, canyon, cavity, channel, chap, chasm,
check, chimney, chink, cleft, cleuch, clough, cofferdam, col,
communication trench, coulee, couloir, countermine, coupure, crack,
cranny, crevasse, crevice, crimp, cut, cwm, dam, defense, defile,
dell, dike, ditch, donga, double sap, draw, dugout, earthwork,
embankment, entrenchment, excavation, fault, fence, fire trench,
fissure, flaw, flume, flying sap, fortified tunnel, fosse, foxhole,
fracture, furrow, gallery, gap, gape, gash, gate, goffer, gorge,
gravity dam, groin, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, gutter, ha-ha,
hole, hydraulic-fill dam, incision, iron curtain, jam, jetty,
joint, kennel, kloof, leak, leaping weir, levee, logjam, milldam,
mine, mole, mound, notch, nullah, opening, parallel, parapet, pass,
passage, pleat, portcullis, rampart, ravine, rent, rift, rime,
roadblock, rock-fill dam, rupture, sap, scissure, seam, seawall,
shutter dam, slit, slit trench, slot, split, stone wall,
sunk fence, trench, trough, tunnel, valley, void, wadi, wall, weir,
wicket dam, work
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