castle Hear it!

castle Definition

cas·tle (kas′əl, käs′-)

noun

  1. a large building or group of buildings fortified with thick walls, battlements, and often a moat; castles were the strongholds of noblemen in the Middle Ages
  2. any massive dwelling somewhat like this
  3. a safe, secure place; refuge
  4. Chess rook

Etymology: ME < OE & Anglo-Fr castel < L castellum, dim. of castrum, fort

transitive verb -·tled, -·tling

  1. to put into, or furnish with, a castle
  2. Chess to move (a king) two squares to either side and then, in the same move, set the castle in the square skipped by the king: permitted only when neither piece has been moved before and the spaces between them are not occupied

intransitive verb

to castle a king

castle Synonyms

castle

n.

stronghold, manor, fortress, château, citadel, seat, villa, keep, donjon, fort, hold, safehold, refuge, fastness, acropolis, alcazar; see also building 1, fortification 2, palace.

castle Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • ruin: The three privates were executed by firing squad against the walls of the ruined 16th-century castle in the village on May 27, 1916.
  • moat: This is a very attractive example of a moated castle, originally owned by the Tunstall family.
  • fortify: On Former fortified castle ( 11th century ), with all its authenticity.
  • enchant: I would very much appreciate if you send me information about this fact and/or stories about enchanted castles.
  • crumble: These are regions steeped in history, whose every village seemingly hides an architectural treasure, from Romanesque chapels to crumbling castles.

Adjective modifier

  • bouncy: Pony Rides, bouncy castle, face painting & much more.
  • medieval: The museum is accommodated in a rebuilt medieval castle in the middle of Castle Gardens.
  • Moorish: We climbed the Moorish castle that overlooks the town only to find that some of it appears to be new.
  • magnificent: Doune Castle A magnificent 14th century courtyard castle, once the ancestral home of the Earls of Moray.
  • 13th: Inverlochy Castle Fort William Remains of a 13th century castle built by the Comyn family.
  • majestic: Romania has majestic castles, medieval towns, great hiking and wildlife.

Modifies a noun

  • ruin: Explore the rolling hills, moorland and woodland, see castle ruins, and a rich variety of wildlife.
  • mound: The village still has its castle mound, along a footpath south of the church.
  • moat: Chutes were provided for the discharge which often led to the castle moat.
  • rampart: This is the view along the castle rampart to the entrance of the room used by BBC engineers as a studio.
  • dungeon: Here, even the old cinema and castle dungeons have been converted to used-book shops!

Noun used with modifier

  • bailey: Longtown Castle ruins is a one example of a motte and bailey castle, owned by Norman lords to maintain control over the Welsh.
  • fairytale: Glengorm Castle Choose this fairytale castle on the Isle of Mull for your very special day.
  • crusader: These people do not and cannot even leave this crusader castle.
  • motte: Built on a hilltop late in the 11th century, the castle started life as a large motte castle.
castle Quotes

His coomb was redder than the fyn coral, And batailled as it were a castle wal; His byle was blak, and as the jeet it shoon; Lyk asure were his legges and his toon; His nayles whitter than the lylye flour, And lyk the burned gold was his colour.

—Chaucer, Geoffrey

Pale rain over the dwindling harbour And over the sea wet church the size of a snail With its horns through mist and the castle Brown as owls.

—Thomas, Dylan Marlais

   Claustrum sine armario quasi castrum sine armamentario. Ipsum armarium nostrum est armamenturium. A cloister without a library is like a castle without an armoury. For the library is our armoury.

—Geoffrey de Breteuil   fl.12c

   The splendour falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story: The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

—Tennyson

He was a braw gallant, And he play'd at the ba'; And the bonnie Earl of Murray Was the flower amang them a'. He was a braw gallant, And he play'd at the glove; And the bonnie Earl of Murray, O he was the Queen's luve. O lang will his lady Look owre the castle Doune, Ere she sees the Earl of Murray Come sounding thro'the toun.

—Ballads

A man's house is his castle.

—Coke, Sir Edward

The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, And ordered their estate.

—Alexander, Cecil Frances

Theyare a great tradition†gliding in and out of the corridors of power with the opulent calm of angelfish swimming through an aquarian castle.

—Allen, Henry Southworth