déblai

Borrowed from French déblai.

déblai

1. (dated, fortification) The cavity from which the earth for a fortification's parapets, etc. (remblai), has been taken.

• “déblai”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Abdiel, Idabel, bailed, baldie, belaid, dabeli, diable

Deverbal of déblayer. From Middle French desblay, from Old French desblée, ultimately from Old French blet (“wheat”), from Frankish *blad.

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

déblai m (plural déblais)

1. clearing and levelling (of land)
2. excavation

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