Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COUN'TER-SCARP, n. [Fr. contrescarpe; It. contrascarpa; Sp. contraescarpa; contre and escarpe, scarpa, escarpa, a slope, from the root of carve.]

In fortification, the exterior talus or slope of the ditch, or the talus that supports the earth of the covered way; but it often signifies the whole covered way, with its parapet and glacis; as when it is said, the enemy have lodged themselves on the counterscarp. – Harris. Encyc.