blindage

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French blindage.

Noun

blindage (plural blindages)

1. (military, historical) A cover or protection for an advanced trench or approach, formed of fascines and earth supported by a framework.
   • 1852, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Fortification, Military Tactics, and Perspective:

     A blindage may also be formed by covering the space between two traverses with beams, hurdles, earth, & c .

   • 1911, F. E. G. Skey, “The Final Struggle for 203-Meter Hill at Port Arthur”, in The Military Engineer, volume 3, page 107:

     In order that the reader may appreciate what a ruined blindage looked like and with what horrors its destruction was attended, the following report of Sapper Peter Oleinik, of the Kwantung Sapper Company, is published in full:

   • 2013, Ron Field, American Civil War Fortifications:

     Blindage covering the tops of saps could simply consist of sandbags, or a layer of fascines laid over the crest of the parapet.

2. (military) A deep dugout, often equipped with bunks and other fittings.
   • 1855, Leo Tolstoy, Sevastopol Sketches:

     There literally was left no space to step foot in the whole blindage: it was so choked with soldiers up to the very entrance.

   • 2017 January 14, Roland Oliphant, “Special report: Loose cannons at the frontline of Ukraine's forgotten war”, in The Telegraph‎^[1]:

     The key unit of life here is the dugout – what the soldiers call a ‘blindage’ – an underground burrow where half a dozen men share the narrow space between the bunks with weapons, ammunition, biscuits, tea bags, and a jumble of other essentials (there is also usually a cat, not to mention the mice).

   • 2020, Yevgeniya Podobna, Girls cutting their locks:

     . At first, I thought of staying in a blindage.

3. A final layer of material such as sand or road scrapings that is spread to fill in any small gaps in the road surface and soak up any wet spots.
   • 1907, Robert Phillips, “Discussion on Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads”, in Report of the 3d-4th Congress of the Sanitary Institute, page 661:

     Surveyors differ in opinion, some use 10 per cent. of the screenings from the machine as blindage; the writer has tried these, but prefers the road scrapings.

   • 1920, William Lumisden Strange, Notes on Irrigation, Roads and Buildings and on the Water Supply of Towns, page 731:

     Blindage is required to finish off the surface of the metal coating by filling up any interstices which may remain after it is consolidated.

   • 2014, S.K. Sharma, Principles, Practice and Design of Highway Engineering:

     When prime coat is not entirely absorbed within reasonable length of time, usually 24 hr. it is customary to apply a very light sand blindage to blot up the excess primer.

Translations

cover or protection for an advanced trench or approach

• Belarusian: блінда́ж m (blindáž)
• Finnish: korsu (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: blindaż (pl) m
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: блинда́ж (ru) m (blindáž)
• Ukrainian: блінда́ж (uk) m (blindáž)

Further reading

• “blindage”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

French

Etymology

From blinder +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɛ̃.daʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

blindage m (plural blindages)

1. armour, armour plating

Descendants

• → Belarusian: блінда́ж (blindáž)
• → English: blindage
• → Polish: blindaż
• → Portuguese: blindagem
• → Russian: блинда́ж (blindáž)
• → Ukrainian: блінда́ж (blindáž)

Further reading

• “blindage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.