bivouac
verb
Did you know?
In his 1841 dictionary, Noah Webster observed bivouac to be a French borrowing having military origins. He defined the noun bivouac as "the guard or watch of a whole army, as in cases of great danger of surprise or attack" and the verb as "to watch or be on guard, as a whole army." The French word is derived from the Low German word biwacht, which translates to "by guard." Germans used the word specifically for a patrol of citizens who assisted the town watch at night. Today, bivouac has less to do with guarding and patrolling than it does with taking shelter.
Examples of bivouac in a Sentence
Tori Latham, Robb Report, 25 Aug. 2025
By the way, that's the building where thousands of the troops who will be marching in the parade will bivouac, sleeping on cots and bringing their own sleeping bags.
—Susan Page, USA Today, 11 June 2025
On the sidewalks lay many of the homeless, an anonymous army bivouacked beneath blankets or balled up fetally, uncovered.
—Andrew Kay, Harpers Magazine, 28 May 2025
Maoist rebels bivouacked in valleys beyond Kathmandu, promising to topple the monarch and his parliamentary cronies, and install an egalitarian people’s republic.
—Sean Williams, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
Thousands of those fighters are now bivouacked in Belarus.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 23 July 2023
Mazzei’s vineyards showed promise but, according to one legend, were destroyed during the Revolutionary War by rambunctious Hessian prisoners bivouacked there.
—Dave McIntyre, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2023
Some cyclists thrive on riding 1,000 miles in cutoff denim shorts, drinking from streams, bivouacking under the stars, and tempting fate with every decision.
—Stephanie Pearson, WIRED, 31 May 2021
And now comes the coronavirus, which has prompted people to bivouac in their homes, theaters to put in place social-distancing restrictions and studios to postpone most theatrical releases through the end of April.
—New York Times, 14 Mar. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Bivouac.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bivouac. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bivouac
1 of 2 noun
bivouac
2 of 2 verbFrench, from a German dialect word biwacht, literally, "on guard"
