τεῖχος
Alt. τεῖχος, ος, εος, τό,
I. "a wall", esp. "a wall round a city, town-wall", in sg. and pl., Hom.; τειχέων κιθῶνες "coats" of walls, i. e. walls one within the other, Hdt.; τεῖχος ἐλαύνειν, δέμειν Il., etc.; οἰκοδομεῖν Hdt.; τ. περιβάλλεσθαι "moenia sibi circumdare", id=Hdt.; also, τ. περιβάλλεσθαι τὴν πόλιν id=Hdt.; τ. ῥήξασθαι "to breach" the wall, Il.; so in Prose, τ. καθαιρεῖν, κατασκάπτειν Hdt., etc.
2. τὰ μακρὰ τείχη at Athens were lines of wall connecting the city-wall with the harbours, called respectively τὸ βόρειον or Peiraic, and τὸ νότιον or Phaleric wall.— τεῖχος, τείχη differ from τοῖχος, as Lat. murus, moenia from "paries, city-walls" from a "house-wall;" cf. τειχίον.
II. "any fortification, a castle, fort", Hdt.: pl. of "a single fort, fortifications", id=Hdt.
III. "a fortified town", id=Hdt., Xen., etc.; so in pl.
Etym. deriv. uncertain