BOULEVARD (a Fr. word, earlier boulevart, from Dutch or Ger. Bollwerk, cf. Eng. "

See also:

• BULWARK (a word probably of Scandinavian origin, from bol or bole, a tree-trunk, and werk, work, in Ger. Bollwerk, which has also been derived from an old German bolen, to throw, and so a machine for throwing missiles)

bulwark ")  , originally, in fortification, an earthwork with a broad platform for artillery . It came into use owing to the width of the gangways in medieval walls being insufficient for the mounting of artillery thereon . The boulevard or bulwark was usually an earthen outwork mounting artillery, and so placed in advance as to prevent the guns of a besieger from battering the foot of the main walls . It was as a rule circular . Semicircular demi-boulevards were often constructed round the bases of the old masonry towers with the same object . In modern times the word is most frequently used to denote a promenade laid out on the site of a former fortification, and, by analogy, a broad avenue in a town planted with rows of trees .