Gabionage

/ˈɡæbiənɪdʒ/ noun

Definition

The system or process of using gabions (wire baskets filled with stone or earth) in construction or fortification, or the gabions collectively.

Etymology

From French gabionage, formed from gabion + French -age suffix (denoting a system, process, or collection). The -age suffix is productive in English for abstract nouns describing practices or collections.

Kelly Says

Gabionage is a technical vocabulary word that shows how military engineering terminology becomes formalized—engineers and soldiers needed words for these newfangled stone-basket systems, and French and English both created -age nouns to talk about the practice systematically.

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