fire step
noun1
Government, Military, Politics, War Historical A step or platform dug into the front side of a military trench - allowing soldiers to stand on it in order to fire over the parapet.
- We stood on the fire step with our heads over the top, peering out into No Man's Land.1917, Arthur Guy Empey, Over The Top:
- ‘One o' the men on the firestep was 'urt too, but they said it was only a nice blighty one.’1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 101:
1 more example
- They spread the lime together, sprinkling it thickly along the firestep, throwing shovelfuls at a bad patch of wall.1991, Pat Barker, Regeneration (The Regeneration Trilogy), Penguin, published 2014, page 140: