Also 7 aphet. splanade. [a. F. esplanade, ad. Sp. esplanada (corresp. to It. spianata), f. esplanar:—L. explānāre to level, f. ex out + -plānus level, PLAIN.]
1. Fortif. a. The glacis of the counterscarp, or the sloping of the parapet of the covered way toward the country.
1696. in Phillips.
1755. H. T. Croker, Orlando Fur., XIV. cxxix. The Pagan forces … by ladders different essay’d Upon the second esplanade to creep.
1811. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VII. 331. There was a heavy fire of musketry on the Esplanade: so that the enemy are not in the covered way.
b. ‘An open, level space of ground, separating the citadel of a fortress from the town’ (Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl.).
1708. Kersey, Esplanade … is now chiefly taken for the void Space between the Glacis of a Citadel, and the first Houses of a Town.
1736. in Bailey.
1763. Scrafton, Indostan, iii. (1770), 72. The fort was a regular square…; no glacis; and but a small esplanade of about two hundred and fifty yards.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xvii. The esplanade in the front of the old castle.
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep. (1861), II. 455. Throwing up a breastwork … upon the esplanade, between the citadel and the town.
transf. 1816. Keatinge, Trav. (1817), I. 165–6. [Spain] to be effectually defended on this side, the state must always be prepared to evacuate and make an esplanade of her territory, to the Sierra Morena; which thus would be the line of defence to her capital, Seville.
2. A levelled piece of ground; often, such a space intended to serve as a public promenade.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, I. 31. A large place, which they call the Splanade.
1726. Cavallier, Mem., I. 96. A fine Walk, call’d the Esplanade, without the Town.
1788. Gentl. Mag., LVIII. I. 69/2. An esplanade … on which … the foundations of a regular street were laid.
1805. G. Rose, Diaries (1860), II. 199. I went on the esplanade [at Weymouth] early in the morning.
1823. Heber, Narr. of a Journey (1828), I. 28. Behind the [Calcutta] esplanade, however, are only Tank-square, and some other streets occupied by Europeans.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 12. The Palace esplanade, where music plays while Serene Highness is pleased to eat his victuals.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. xiv. 296. The Esplanade of the Invalides.
b. transf. A level open space.
1681. Blount, Glossogr., Esplanade, a plain open ground.
1702. W. J., trans. Bruyn’s Voy. Levant, v. 13. Upon the mountain we met with an Esplanade of a considerable Bigness.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., The Dwarf. At the end of the orchestra, and betwixt that and the first side-box, there is a small esplanade left.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., iii. An open esplanade, devoid of trees.
1868. Milman, St. Paul’s, i. 2. No eminence … could compare with the spacious esplanade on which St. Paul’s stands.
c. ‘In modern gardening, a grass plot’ (T.).
1818. in Todd.
1828. in Webster; and in mod. Dicts.
