cantonment
/kanˈtɒnm(ə)nt
/ /kanˈtuːnm(ə)nt/noun
1A military garrison or camp.Like Delhi, almost all big Indian cities have inherited cantonments, the colonial military stations....
- During his meteoric rise there (he made colonel within four months), he worked on building the Pentagon and led the biggest housing project in history, constructing camps and cantonments for our troops.
- The cantonments with their spacious suburbs of bungalows, military buildings, tennis courts and churches built by the British to distance themselves from the noises and smells of the cities and towns are still there.
1.1 historical A permanent military station in British India.The Sepoys in India in 1857 who rebelled against their British officers often invaded the British cantonments and attacked their women....
- Having grown up in British cantonments as the son of an army officer, I knew how the British lived in India.
- Lord Carrington, the British foreign secretary, hoping thereby to preserve a white cantonment, floated the idea of partitioning South Africa just before Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
Origin
Mid 18th century: from French cantonnement, from cantonner 'to quarter' (see canton).