kasbah
/ˈkazbɑː
/(also casbah)
noun
1The citadel of a North African city: a town dominated by its ancient kasbah...
- As we travel, we'll be surrounded by signature images of the mystical Sahara: ancient kasbahs, palm-lined oases, haunting music, and delectable cuisine.
- Southern Morocco is famous for its kasbahs, large fortified homes made from pise or sun-dried mud-bricks.
- Still musing about his travels, he turned to me, ‘The most memorable tour that I ever took was to explore the kasbahs of southern Morocco.
1.1 (the kasbah) The area surrounding a North African citadel: he took me to a flat in the kasbah...
- Many old inhabitants of the kasbah still remember watching their neighbours dragged out and beheaded on the whim of a French general.
- He notes, for instance, ‘In all the cities of the Maghreb, the casbahs are the indigenous strongholds, centers of tacit and at times active resistance to the European colonial presence ‘.’
- The bartering which still takes place in many eastern kasbahs is a form of marketing.
Origin
Mid 18th century: from French casbah, from Arabic qaṣaba 'citadel'.