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.
The back of any animal; especially the upper or projecting part of the back of a quadruped.
A chain of hills.
A chain of mountains.
Any extended protuberance; a projecting line or strip.
The line along which two sloping surfaces meet which diverge towards the ground.
A long narrow elevation on an ocean bottom.
The highest portion of the glacis proceeding from the salient angle of the covered way.
An elongated region of high atmospheric pressure.
The highest point on a roof, represented by a horizontal line where two roof areas intersect, running the length of the area.
To form into a ridge
To extend in ridges