wing wall

noun — 2 senses

wing wall

noun

1

Business, Construction, Manufacturing In a bridge, a retaining wall on either side of an abutment.

Such an abutment would typically have wing walls that have sloping tops, to match the profile of the embankment. The wing walls are usually angled back from the abutment wall.2023 May 3, Philip Haigh, “The art and science of building bridges”, in RAIL, number 982, page 40:

2

With a tunnel, a retaining wall on either side of the portal.

The later tunnel has a portal of blue engineering bricks, and the curved wing walls are wider than those of the old tunnel, which has a rather cramped appearance.1953 December, “Notes and News: Ampthill Tunnels, L.M.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 854:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.