schantze

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Compare German Schanze (“entrenchment, redoubt”).

schantze (plural schantzes)

1. (obsolete) A type of stone fortification.
   • 1898, Reports on the Native Disturbances in Rhodesia, 1896-97, page 102:

     After proceeding some distance — about three miles this side of Norton's farm — the advance scouts were fired on from schantzes in a kopje adjoining the road.

   • 1901, Foster Hugh Egerton Cunliffe, The History of the Boer War to the Occupation of Bloemfontein:

     At 7 a.m. they opened fire upon the long lines of schantzes which dotted every crestline and were the only visible sign of the enemy's presence.

   • 1905, John L. C. Booth, Troubles in the Balkans, page 184:

     Round the dome the insurgents had built little stone schantzes, and each had a dull brown stain behind it; round about lay a few cartridge-cases and old rags.

   • 1908, South African Law Journal, volume 25, page 57:

     In 1907 the defendant erected a schantze or stone weir inside his boundary so as to confine the water to the former course, and to prevent it coming on to his land at times of ordinary flood.

   • 1913, John Finnemore, A Boy Scout in the Balkans:

     With wonderful speed and dexterity, each marksman built himself a tiny schantze of stones on the edge of the plateau, and stretched himself behind it, fondling his rifle and twitching his bandolier into an easy position.

• schanze