HURDLES, in Fortification, are made of twigs of willows or osiers interwoven close together, fastened by long stakes. They are made in the figure of a long square, the length being five or six feet, and the breadth three and a half. The closer they are wattled together, the better. They serve to render the batteries firm, or to consolidate the passage over muddy ditches; or to cover traverses and lodgments for the defence of the workmen against fire-works or stones thrown against them.
The Romans had a kind of military execution for mutineers, called putting to death under the hurdle. The manner of it was this: The criminal was laid at his length in a shallow water, under an hurdle, upon which was heaped stones, and so pressed down till he was drowned.