||Che*val"-de-frise" (?), n.; commonly used in the pl. Chevaux-de- frise. [F.; cheval horse + Frise Friesland, where it was first used.] (Mil.) A piece of timber or an iron barrel traversed with iron-pointed spikes or spears, five or six feet long, used to defend a passage, stop a breach, or impede the advance of cavalry, etc.

Obstructions of chain, boom, and cheval-de- frise.
W. Irving.