Bollard

A bollard is a pole used to close a road or path to vehicles above a certain width. Bollards can be mounted close enough to block ordinary cars, for instance, but wide enough to permit special-purpose vehicles through. The term is nautical in origin, and the American Heritage Dictionary calls the aformentioned use in landscape architecture "chiefly British", although the term has crept into the jargon of some American universities, namely Princeton.

Related Topics:
Nautical - American Heritage Dictionary - British - American - Princeton

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The term "robotic bollards" has been applied to traffic barricades capable of moving themselves into position on a roadway. (See this webpage and a story from the BBC.)

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In mountaineering, a bollard is a large pile of snow or a block of ice shaped to form a secure anchor point. While such bollards can be quite strong, they are time consuming to build and not as commonly used as flukes, pickets, ice screws and Abalokov threads.

Related Topics:
Mountaineering - Flukes - Pickets - Ice screws - Abalokov threads

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