Gabion, a military term from the Italian, used to designate a hollow wicker cylinder or basket without top or bottom. Soldiers desiring to intrench themselves quickly formed willow gabions in a place of shelter, and carried them forward under fire or perhaps in the night. Two rows of gabions, set so as to break joints and filled with earth, formed a secure breastwork against musketry. The advantage of gabions lay in the fact that they afforded concealment and could be filled with earth in far less time than would be required to throw up an embankment of equal height. See BLOCKHOUSE; VAUBAN; FORT.