cantonment

English

Etymology

From French cantonnement.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kanˈtɒnmənt/, IPA^(key): /kanˈtuːnmənt/

Noun

cantonment (plural cantonments)

1. Temporary military living quarters.
   • 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 145:

     On the Umballa platform waited a detachment of officers discussing the latest news from the stricken cantonment, and it was here that Bobby learned the real condition of the Tail Twisters.

2. A town or village, or part of a town or village, assigned to a body of troops for quarters.
   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 220:

     The cantonments, it transpired, were singularly ill-sited for defence, being built on low, marshy ground, overlooked by hills on all sides.

3. (India) A permanent military station.

See also

• cantonment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• “cantonment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.