cheval de frise

noun, plural che·vaux-de-frise

[shuh-voh-duh-freez] , Usually, chevaux-de-frise.

a portable obstacle, usually a sawhorse, covered with projecting spikes or barbed wire, for military use in closing a passage, breaking in a defensive wall, etc.

Origin:
1680–90; < French; literally, horse of Friesland, so called because first used by Frisians

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary

cheval-de-frise (ʃəˌvældəˈfriːz)

—n , pl chevaux-de-frise
1.	a portable barrier of spikes, sword blades, etc, used to obstruct the passage of cavalry
2.	a row of spikes or broken glass set as an obstacle on top of a wall

[C17: from French, literally: horse from Friesland (where it was first used)]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Cheval de frise is always a great word to know.

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the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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Word Origin & History

cheval de frise

1688, from Fr., lit. "horse of Frisia," because it was first employed there as a defense against cavalry. Plural chevaux de frise.

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"In France, and at the most important period of our history, Catherine de' Medici has suffered more from popular error than any other woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Frédégonde; while Marie de' Medici, whose every action was prejudicial to France, has escaped the disgrace that should cover her name.... Catherine de' Medici ... saved the throne of France, she maintained [the] Royal authority under circumstances to which more than one great prince would have succumbed. Face to face with such leaders of the factions and ambitions of the houses of Guise and of Bourbon as the two Cardinals de Lorraine and the two "Balafrès," the two Princes de Condé, Queen Jeanne d'Albret, Henri IV, the Connétable de Montmorency, Calvin, the Colignys and Théodore de Bèze, she was forced to put forth the rarest fine qualities, the most essential gifts of statesmanship, under the fire of the Calvinist press."

-Honoré De Balzac

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cheval de frise

che·val-de-frise