bastille : Idioms & Phrases
Index
bastile bastille
Bas*tile" Bas*tille" noun
Etymology
F.Definitions
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(Feud. Fort.) A tower or an elevated work, used for the defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place. The high bastiles . . . which overtopped the walls. Holland.
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"The Bastille", formerly a castle or fortress in Paris, used as a prison, especially for political offenders; hence, a rhetorical name for a prison.
Webster 1913
bastille day
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noun a legal holiday in France celebrating the storming of the Paris bastille in 1789
14 July.