castle
/ˈkɑːs(ə)l
/noun
1A large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat: Edinburgh Castle the crumbling stonework of a ruined castle...
- Here, you can see stone cannon balls built into the castle walls, defensive battlements and interior living quarters.
- I sat in the guard barracks in the outer wall of the castle battlements.
- THE 5ft-thick walls of a medieval castle have seen the light of day again after centuries buried underground.
Synonyms
fortress, fort, stronghold, fortification, keep, citadel, fastness, tower, peel, palace, chateau, donjon;
in Spain alcazar
1.1A magnificent and imposing old mansion: [in names]: Castle Howard...
- Castle Howard is the property of the Howard family, while Harewood House and Burton Constable belong to trusts.
- The real Grace Nugent been a near neighbor, living at Castle Nugent four miles north of Edgeworthstown.
- Hopefully soon they would catch up to Ian's caravan, and would return to castle Laramont with Rana.
1.2 Chess, informal old-fashioned term for rook2.
verb [no object] (often as noun castling) Chess
1Make a special move (no more than once in a game by each player) in which the king is transferred from its original square two squares along the back rank towards a rook on its corner square which is then transferred to the square passed over by the king.Also, he would like to clear the back rank before he castles to give his Rooks greater maneuverability....
- At this point I think Black could simply castle when once again I see nothing wrong with his position.
- And White lost more than a tempo, more like two or three since it took five bishop and knight moves to make the captures and Black did not lose a tempo with castling and only made two capturing moves with his rook and king.
1.1 [with object] Move (the king) by castling.‘He's just a crybaby if you ask me,’ the other spat as he castled his king....
- If White's King was castled, then 4.Nxd6 would be equal.
- But if the kings are castled on opposite sides and the half-open file bears down on the enemy king, it's a big plus and can easily offset even doubled isolated pawns.
Phrases
castles in the air (or in Spain)
Derivatives
castled
- Each of the worlds that you fly in are unique, from barren wastelands and deserts to a castled city to flying through ice caverns or a volcano.
Origin
Late Old English: from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French castel, from Latin castellum, diminutive of castrum 'fort'.
Castle goes back to Latin castellum, ‘little fort’ from castrum ‘fort’. To build castles in the air is to have daydreams or unrealistic fantasies. It comes from a Latin phrase used by St Augustine, who became bishop of Hippo in North Africa in ad 396. Another version, originally a translation from medieval French, is to build castles in Spain. This country was probably chosen because it was a distant place where it would have been extremely unrealistic to build—most of it was under the rule of the Moors at the time the phrase was first used in French.