rampart
n. countablen. a high wall or earthwork built to protect a city or castle. It is often part of a larger defensive system like a moat or a gate.
n. a defensive embankment or wall, typically surrounding a fortress or city. Often used in the plural to refer to the entire defensive perimeter.
The soldiers stood on the rampart to watch for the enemy.
The ancient city's stone rampart still stands today, offering a clear view of the valley below.
Archaeologists discovered a series of reinforced ramparts that had been constructed to withstand the heavy artillery of the mid-nineteenth century.
Borrowed from Middle French rempart (“rampart of a fort”), from Old French remparer (“to defend, fortify, inclose with a rampart”), from re- (“again”) + emparer (“defend, fortify, surround, seize, take possession of”), from Old Occitan amparer, from Vulgar Latin *anteparō (“to prepare”), from ante- + parō (“to prepare”).