castle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: käs'(ə)l
ipa: /ˈkɑːsəl/
ipa: /kɑːsl̩/
rhymes: -ɑːsəl
note: US, Canada, Northern England, Victoria
enpr: kăs'(ə)l
ipa: /ˈkæsəl/
note: US, Canada, Northern England, Victoria
ipa: /kæsl̩/
note: US, Canada, Northern England, Victoria
rhymes: -æsəl
Forms: form: castles
form: castling
form: castled
form: castled
Etymology: From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and château.
Parallel borrowings (from Late Latin or Old French) are Scots castel, castell (“castle”), West Frisian kastiel (“castle”), Dutch kasteel (“castle”), German Kastell (“castle”), Danish kastel (“citadel”), Swedish kastell (“citadel”), Icelandic kastali (“castle”), Welsh castell.
The late Old English word was borrowed from biblical Latin castellum which has been translated as town or village. With the sense of castle, from Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French castel (“castle”), itself from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”) (compare modern French château from Old French chastel). If Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”) is from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“hut, shed”), Latin casa (“cottage, hut”) is related. Possibly related also to Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌸𐌾𐍉 (hēþjō, “chamber”), Old English heaþor (“restraint, confinement, enclosure, prison”). See also casino, cassock.
Senses: examples: text: ...to encastle, to Castle.
ref: 1611, John Florio, Queen Anna's New World of Words, s.v. "Castellare"
text: ...Some fierce tribe, castled on the mountain-peak...
ref: 1871, Robert Browning, Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society, section 116:
glosses: To house or keep in a castle.
examples: text: Castle me in the armes of thy everlasting strength.
ref: 1655, William Gurnall, The Christian in Compleat Armour, 1st Pt., 32
glosses: To protect or separate in a similar way.
glosses: To make into a castle: to build in the form of a castle or add (real or imitation) battlements to an existing building.
examples: text: He [i.e., the king] may change (or Castle) with this Rooke, that is, he may goe two draughts at once towards this Rooke... causing the Rooke to stand next to him on either side.
ref: 1656, Gioachino Greco, translated by Francis Beale, The Royall Game of Chesse-Play, Being the Study of Biochimo, page 8:
text: No. 24. ¶ If your adversary make a false move, castle improperly, &c., you must take notice of such irregularity before you move, or even touch a piece, or you are no longer allowed to inflict any penalties.
ref: 1835, William Lewis, Chess for Beginners, Ch. 5, p. 24:
text: If a player having the move: […] touches his/her king and a rook he/she must castle on that side if it is legal to do so
ref: 2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 9:
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: To move the king 2 squares right or left and, in the same turn, the nearest rook to the far side of the king. The move now has special rules: the king cannot be in, go through, or end in check; the squares between the king and rook must be vacant; and neither piece may have been moved before castling.
topics: board-games
games
shogi
glosses: To create a similar defensive position in Japanese chess through several moves.
examples: text: And the 23-year-old brought the crowd to their feet when he castled Gayle's stumps, signalling the direction of the pavilion to his friend for good measure.
ref: 2009, “Lightning Bolt Blows Over Gayle”, in BBC Sport:
text: He bowled Vinay with a full, straight ball that castled off stump and then dished up a yorker that RP Singh backed away to and sent onto his stumps.
ref: 2011, Firdose Moonda, “A Day for Missed Hat-tricks”, in ESPNcricinfo:
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To bowl a batsman with a full-length ball or yorker such that the stumps are knocked over.
Synonyms: sense: to house in a castle
word: castellate
sense: to house in a castle
word: incastellate
sense: to make into a castle
word: fortify
Derived terms: castle up
castle short
castle long