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Bastille

name
/bæˈstiːl/UK/bæˈstil/US

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English bastile, bastel (“fortification for attack mounted on a barge or wheels; projecting part of a fortification, bastion, turret; fortified encampment of a besieging army; structure carrying armed men on an elephant’s back; (figuratively) refuge, shelter; protector”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman bastile, bastille, Middle French bastille, and Old French baastel, basstel (“fortification; fortified tower; temporary fortification constructed for attack or defence; (small) castle or fortress”) (modern French bastille; compare Medieval Latin bastīle), from bastide (“fortification; fortress”) with the ending modified after nouns ending in -ille (from Latin -īle (suffix forming place names)). Bastide is derived from Old Occitan bastida (“fortification; (Provence) country mansion”), from bastir (“to build, construct”) + -ida (suffix forming nouns); while bastir is from *bastīre, from Frankish *bastijan (“to sew; to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *bast (“fibre; rope”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- ~ *bʰasḱ- (“bundle, heap, load”) but this is disputed. Compare typologically Russian опло́т (oplót), плете́нь (pleténʹ) (akin to плести́ (plestí)). Noun sense 2.1 (“jail or prison, especially one regarded as mistreating its prisoners”) is from the Bastille in Paris, France. Known in full as the Bastille Saint-Antoine, it was a former fortress used as a prison by the French monarchy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Bastille was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789 at the start of the French Revolution and later demolished, becoming an important symbol for the French Republican movement. Noun sense 2.2 (“workhouse”) was possibly popularized by the English politician William Cobbett (1763–1835) who opposed the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (4 & 5 William IV, chapter 76; often called the “New Poor Law”). This Act made relief or welfare for poor people only available through workhouses, and ensured that the working conditions were harsh so that only the truly destitute would apply for relief. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates Late Latin bastile (“wooden siege tower”), bastilla, bastillia, bastillus, bastellum (“fortification; wooden siege tower”)

  1. derived from *bʰasḱ-✻
  2. derived from *bast✻ — “fibre; rope”
  3. derived from *bastijan✻ — “to sew; to weave”
  4. derived from bastida — “fortification; (Provence) country mansion”
  5. derived from -īle
  6. derived from baastel
  7. derived from bastille
  8. derived from bastile
  9. inherited from bastile

Definitions

  1. A former fortress and prison in Paris, France, the storming of which in 1789 began the…

    A former fortress and prison in Paris, France, the storming of which in 1789 began the French Revolution.

  2. Chiefly in French contexts

    Chiefly in French contexts: a bastion (“projecting part of a rampart or other fortification”) or tower of a castle; also, a fortified tower or other building; or a small citadel or fortress.

    • H' incounters Talgol, routs the Bear, / And takes the Fidler Prisoner; / Conveys him to enchanted Castle, / There shuts him fast in wooden Bastile.

  3. A jail or prison, especially one regarded as mistreating its prisoners.

    • ―The devil it is! ſaid I—but I vvill go to ten thouſand Baſtiles firſt— […]
    • But Nigel was somewhat immured within the Bastile of his rank, as some philosopher, (Tom Paine, we think,) has happily enough expressed that sort of shyness which men of dignified situations are apt to be beset with, […]
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Synonym of workhouse (“an institution for homeless poor people funded by the local…

      Synonym of workhouse (“an institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work”).

    2. The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place

      The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place; also, any of the buildings in such an encampment.

    3. To confine (someone or something) in, or as if in, a bastille (noun sense 2.1) or prison

      To confine (someone or something) in, or as if in, a bastille (noun sense 2.1) or prison; to imprison.

      • Inſtead of forging Chains for Foreigners, / Baſtile thy Tutor: Grandeur All thy Aim?
      • [W]hy if you don't ſcamper, you'll be baſtil'd, before you can ſay, "Killarney."
      • Behold them Bastilling the mildest and most indulgent monarch that ever sat upon their throne; […]

The neighborhood

Derived

bastle, bastle house

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Bastille. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA