Dictionary

breakwater en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From break + water. Compare Dutch breekwater (“breakwater”). Compare firebreak.

Meanings

1. A construction in or around a harbour designed to break the force of the sea and to provide shelter for vessels lying inside.
   • Using the countless tons of rock from the cliff-face, supplemented by much more from inland, they threw out a huge breakwater, 2,000 ft. long and 80 ft. high, roughly at right angles to the quay, so forming an almost completely sheltered corner. Fifty years later, this massive mole is still standing up to the worst that the Irish Sea can do. 1956 September, F. F. Nicholls, “Neyland, A Forgotten Harbour”, in Railway Magazine, page 632:
   • But there's a pier or breakwater runs out into the sea just here, which we could defend longer than anything else, like Horatius and his bridge. 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC, page 259:
   • […]there is a channel, some three miles wide between the city and the mainland, and some mile and a half wide between it and the sandy breakwater called the Lido, which divides the lagoon from the Adriatic, 1853, John Ruskin, “The Throne”, in The Stones of Venice, volume II (The Sea-Stories), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § VI, page 8:
   • They sailed around a breakwater that hadn't existed on Peregrine's last trip and tied in at the moorage. 1992, Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 70:
2. A low bulkhead across the forecastle deck of a ship which diverts water breaking over the bows into the scuppers.
3. (qualifier:on beaches) A wooden or concrete barrier, usually perpendicular to the shore, intended to prevent the movement of sand along a coast.

Forms

Translations (75)

cs vlnolam (construction in or around a harbour) · cmn 防波堤 (construction in or around a harbour) · af breekwater (construction in or around a harbour) · io ondegoruptilo (construction in or around a harbour) · pl ostroga brzegowa (beach barrier) · pt esporão (construction in or around a harbour) · ru волноре́з (construction in or around a harbour) · de Mole (construction in or around a harbour) · fr môle (construction in or around a harbour) · tr mendirek (construction in or around a harbour) · de Wellenbrecher (construction in or around a harbour) · nl golfbreker (beach barrier) · pdt Walenbräakja (construction in or around a harbour) · gl crebaondas (construction in or around a harbour) · cy morglawdd (construction in or around a harbour) · da bølgebryder (construction in or around a harbour) · fr jetée (construction in or around a harbour) · nl golfbreker (construction in or around a harbour) · it bulbo (low bulkhead across the forecastle deck of a ship) · hu hullámtörő (construction in or around a harbour) · tl pamasag-alon (construction in or around a harbour) · ja 防波堤 (construction in or around a harbour) · mi rongoteka (construction in or around a harbour) · nrf caûchie (construction in or around a harbour) · el κυματοθραύστης (beach barrier) · mk бранобран (construction in or around a harbour) · fr digue (beach barrier) · es espigón (construction in or around a harbour) · ga tonnchosc (construction in or around a harbour) · pt quebra-mar (construction in or around a harbour) · da mole (construction in or around a harbour) · it frangimare (construction in or around a harbour) · es reventazón (beach barrier) · bg вълноло́м (construction in or around a harbour) · gl quebraondas (construction in or around a harbour) · ru волноло́м (construction in or around a harbour) · es reventazón (construction in or around a harbour) · ru волноло́м (beach barrier) · de Buhne (beach barrier) · hy ծովապատնեշ (construction in or around a harbour) · et muul (construction in or around a harbour) · it frangiflutti (construction in or around a harbour) · it diga foranea (beach barrier) · nl havenhoofd (construction in or around a harbour) · es escollera (construction in or around a harbour) · de Wellenbrecher (beach barrier) · es rompeolas (construction in or around a harbour) · he שׁוֹבֵר גַּלִּים (construction in or around a harbour) · ru мол (construction in or around a harbour) · grc πρόχωσις (construction in or around a harbour) · ru на́сыпь (construction in or around a harbour) · gd doirlinn-fasgaidh (construction in or around a harbour) · fr brise-lames (construction in or around a harbour) · mk бранобран (beach barrier) · ru волноре́з (beach barrier) · fr brise-lames (beach barrier) · ga bábhún (construction in or around a harbour) · fi aallonmurtaja (construction in or around a harbour) · sv vågbrytare (construction in or around a harbour) · nl havendam (construction in or around a harbour) · sk vlnolam (construction in or around a harbour) · nb bølgebryter (construction in or around a harbour) · cmn 防波堤 (beach barrier) · sh lukobran (construction in or around a harbour) · uk хвилері́з (construction in or around a harbour) · ca escullera (construction in or around a harbour) · km ជញ្ជាំងការពារឆ្នេរសមុទ្រ (construction in or around a harbour) · el κυματοθραύστης (construction in or around a harbour) · es rompeolas (beach barrier) · ko 방파제 (construction in or around a harbour) · es escollera (beach barrier) · pl falochron (construction in or around a harbour) · nn bølgebrytar (construction in or around a harbour) · ast contracái (construction in or around a harbour) · it frangionde (construction in or around a harbour)