Fortif. [a. Fr. escarpe, ad. It. scarpa. Cf. SCARP.]
1. ‘A steep bank or wall immediately in front of and below the rampart…; it is generally the inner side of the ditch’ (Adm. Smyth).
1688. J. S., Fortification, 27. The Escarpe or Slope of the Ditch next to the Wall.
1811. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VIII. 12. The enemy had cleared the rubbish from the bottom of the escarp.
1853. Sir H. Douglas, Mil. Bridges (ed. 3), 338. The crest of the exterior slope, or escarp.
2. transf. A natural formation of a similar kind.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. vii. 81. These shelves … presented distinct and recognisable embankments or escarps of elevation.
1868. Sir R. Napier, Disp. on Capture of Magdala, 12 May. Sir Charles Staveley elected an entrance … through a difficult crevice in the rocky escarps.
