bastille (English, noun)
expansion: bastille (plural bastilles)
Senses:
glosses: Chiefly in French contexts: a bastion (“projecting part of a rampart or other fortification”) or tower of a castle; also, a fortified tower or other building; or a small citadel or fortress.
glosses: A jail or prison, especially one regarded as mistreating its prisoners.
tags: figuratively
glosses: Synonym of workhouse (“an institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work”).
tags: British
derogatory
figuratively
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place; also, any of the buildings in such an encampment.
tags: historical
Forms:
form: bastilles
tags: plural
form: bastile
tags: alternative