bastille
[ba-steel; French bas-tee-yuh]
- (initial capital letter) a fortress in Paris, used as a prison, built in the 14th century and destroyed July 14, 1789.
- any prison or jail, especially one conducted in a tyrannical way.
- a fortified tower, as of a castle; a small fortress; citadel.
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Also bas·tile [ba-steel] /bæˈstil/.
Origin of bastille
1350–1400; Middle English bastile < Middle French, probably alteration of bastide bastide, with -ile (< Medieval Latin, Latin -īle noun suffix of place) replacing -ide; replacing Middle English bastel < Old French basstel, with -el similarly replacing -ide
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
penitentiarylockupcellprisonconfinementjailrampartgarrisonbarriercitadelchamberapartmentcagecubicleincarcerateapprehenddetaincommitholdremandExamples from the Web for bastille
Contemporary Examples
With a fine (if unnoticed) stroke of irony, the bill was signed into law on Bastille Day, July 4.
Neither the Bastille nor the Beatles could inspire us to overhaul life itself.
The bloody effervescence of the Bastille gave way to Robespierre and then Napoleon; Stalin crushed Trotsky.
Witness a brown cardboard sign held high on Sunday night at the Bastille.
Anyone hoping to learn what Bastille Day is all about would do well to start here.
Historical Examples
This Bouquet is a rascal who will be more likely to end in the Bastille than I, who did but defend my own.
The Boy Life of NapoleonEugenie Foa
You did good service at the taking of the Bastille, citizen?
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
Inform the Tribunal of what you did that day within the Bastille, citizen.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
This time Hathelin had not the honour of the Bastille; he was sent to some depot.
The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, CompleteMadame La Marquise De Montespan
In the winter, for being second in a duel, he was sent to the Bastille.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, CompleteDuc de Saint-Simon
Bastille
- a fortress in Paris, built in the 14th century: a prison until its destruction in 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French bastile fortress, from Old Provençal bastida, from bastir to build, of Germanic origin; see baste 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for bastille
Bastille
n.
14c. Paris prison destroyed by revolutionaries on July 14, 1789, French, literally "fortress, tower" (see bastion).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Bastille
[(ba-steel)]
A prison in Paris where many political and other offenders were held and tortured until the time of the French Revolution. It was attacked by workers on July 14, 1789, during the revolution; the prisoners were released, and the building was later demolished.
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Note
The anniversary of the attack, Bastille Day, is the most important national holiday in France.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.