talus

noun3

1. •
   The bone of the ankle.
2. •
   A sloping heap of fragments of rock lying at the foot of a precipice.

   • By the time he reached the first talus slides under the tall escarpments of the Pilares the dawn was not far to come. — 1994
3. •
   The slope of an embankment wall, which is thicker at the bottom than at the top.