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often, battlements. a parapet or cresting, originally defensive but later usually decorative, consisting of a regular alternation of merlons and crenels; crenelation.
contemporary examples

while the ghost of default stalks the battlements, he dithers and spouts soliloquies.
to be or not to be…a loser: boehner’s hamlet moment joe mclean october 3, 2013

historical examples

when they reached the summit, yuza placed him on the battlements.
the catholic world; vol. iv.; october, 1866, to march, 1867. e. rameur

the gates were closed, and not a man was to be seen on the battlements.
stories from thucydides h. l. havell

he sat for hours upon the battlements watching for the first stragglers of the retreat.
vayenne percy brebner

earl hugh’s turreted tower also rises boldly from the battlements.
england, picturesque and descriptive joel cook

ayesha, mounted on a camel, advanced to the walls and harangued those -ssembled on the battlements.
female warriors, vol. i (of 2) ellen c. clayton

to this they set fire, just as odin flew over the battlements.
told by the northmen: e. m. [ethel mary] wilmot-buxton

it is a n-ble structure, having ten sides, and a staircase of three hundred steps to the battlements.
the ports, harbours, watering-places and picturesque scenery of great britain vol. 2 william finden

the top rises in a cone, or pyramid of stone, encomp-ssed by battlements.
a journey to the western isles of scotland samuel johnson

the besieged, meanwhile, from the battlements, hurled down missiles of every description on the heads of the -ssailants.
history of the reign of philip the second, king of spain. william h. prescott

noun
a parapet or wall with indentations or embrasures, originally for shooting through
n.

early 14c., from old french bataillement, earlier bastillement “fortification,” from bastillier “to fortify, to equip with battlements,” from bastille “fortress, tower” (see bastion). the raised parts are cops or merlons; the indentations are embrasures or crenelles.

a parapet wall or bal-strade surrounding the flat roofs of the houses, required to be built by a special law (deut. 22:8). in jer. 5:10, it denotes the parapet of a city wall.