rideau
Syllables: ri·deau/ɹiˈdəʊ/
rideau noun: a fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a file of troops, etc.
Noun
rideau (plural rideaus or rideaux)
- A fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a file of troops, etc.
- A judgment may be formed of the weakness of the place, either by the facility found in making the approaches, or by establishing the magazines in the rear of the trenches, taking advantage of some rideau, or hollow way, whereby the right and left of the trenches are better supported. In order to...1759, Guillaume Le Blond, Jacques Prempart, The Military Engineer
- Rideau. A small rising ground or eminence, commanding a plain, which is sometimes near parallel to the works of a place. It is a great disadvantage to have Rideaus near a fortification, especially when they shoot from far, and terminate on counterscarp; for they not only command the place, but...1778, A Military Dictionary, Explaining and Describing the Technical Terms
Proper noun capitalized: Rideau
Rideau (countable and uncountable, plural Rideaus)
Examples of rideau in a sentence
- At the end of a three hours' cannonade, few if any of the Danish block-ships, prames, or rideaus, had ceased firing ; […]1837, William James, Frederick Chamier, The Naval History of Great Britain:
- In less than an hour we arrived at the side of a small covert overhanging a rideau (or bank) of considerable extent : […]1841, Frederic Tolfrey, The sportsman in France:
- About the 24th proposal was made for taking the enemy's vessels, three of which were at anchor a little below the fort, and some of their rideaus likewise.1961, R. Rogers, Journals of Major Robert Rogers, page 171:
- Leaving only a rideau of troops on the left bank of the James, Grant sent Sheridan and the greater part of the army to the Potomac […]2007, Auguste Laugel, The United States During the War:
Forms of rideau
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | rideaus |
| plural | rideaux |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Rideaus |
Origin of rideau
Borrowed from French rideau (“curtain”), from Middle French rideau, from Old French ridel (“plaited stuff; cloth curtain; blind”), from rider (“to plait; to wrinkle”), perhaps from Old High German ridil (“a headband; a ribbon”) or rīdan, wrīdan (“to wrinkle”) (related to English writhe), from Proto-Germanic *wriþilaz, from *wrīþaną (“to twist, wind, wrap”). See more at riddle (“curtain”), writhe.
Words formed from rideau
Words that rhyme with rideau
Questions about rideau
- What does rideau mean?
- Rideau means a fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a file of troops, etc.
- How do you use rideau in a sentence?
- At the end of a three hours' cannonade, few if any of the Danish block-ships, prames, or rideaus, had ceased firing ; […]
- What part of speech is rideau?
- Rideau can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce rideau?
- Rideau is pronounced /ɹiˈdəʊ/.
- What is the plural of rideau?
- The plural of rideau is rideaus.
Words near rideau in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rideau (page history and authors); Rideau (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rideau.wav.
Cite this entry: “rideau.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rideau. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.