Generally a screen or embankment to protect the rear of a position from enemy attack, from bomb splinters from behind, from enemy fire from a commanding height, or fire from flanking positions. In common English usage since World War II, the term "parados", particularly in trench warfare, has largely been discarded in favour of "rear parapet", which, etymologically speaking, is a contradiction in terms. In some contexts the term "rear traverse" is preferred, but no usage is exclusive.
In trench warfare parados referred to a bank of earth or similar material behind the rear of the trench, opposite the parapet, affording protection from explosions and fragments when shells or bombs overshot the trench.
In fortifications that were enfiladed by enemy in positions commanding the fort, an internal parados could defilade the enemy, serving as physical protection and blindage. Usages of the term have varied inconsistently according to times and sources. Some sources use parados as a synonym for a traverse; some other sources represent parados as a special class of traverse and not necessarily at the back of any particular position.
A concave bend at the top or cap of a railing, wall, or coping; a romp.
A scale of values.
An interchange, a road that connects a freeway to a surface street or another freeway.
A large parking area in an airport for aircraft, for loading and unloading or for storage (see also apron).
A search, conducted by authorities, of a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
A mobile staircase that is attached to the doors of an aircraft at an airport.
An act of violent robbery.
An American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to the onion; a wild leek.
A worthless person.
A speed bump.
An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.
A promiscuous man or woman.
A surface inside the air intake of a supersonic aircraft which adjusts in position to allow for efficient shock wave compression of incoming air at a wide range of different Mach numbers.
A construction used to do skating tricks, usually in the form of part of a pipe.
To (cause to) change value, often at a steady rate.
To search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
To adapt a piece of iron to the woodwork of a gate.
To behave violently; to rage.
To rob violently.