Bastion \Bas"tion\ (b[a^]s"ch[u^]n; 106), n. [F. bastion (cf.
It. bastione), fr. LL. bastire to build (cf. F. b[^a]tir, It.
bastire), perh. from the idea of support for a weight, and
akin to Gr. basta`zein to lift, carry, and to E. baston,
baton.] (Fort.)
A work projecting outward from the main inclosure of a
fortification, consisting of two faces and two flanks, and so
constructed that it is able to defend by a flanking fire the
adjacent curtain, or wall which extends from one bastion to
another. Two adjacent bastions are connected by the curtain,
which joins the flank of one with the adjacent flank of the
other. The distance between the flanks of a bastion is called
the gorge. A lunette is a detached bastion. See Ravelin.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
bastion
n 1: a group that defends a principle; "a bastion against
corruption"; "the last bastion of communism"
2: a stronghold into which people could go for shelter during a
battle [syn: citadel]
3: projecting part of a rampart or other fortification
WordNet (r) 2.0
87 Moby Thesaurus words for "bastion":
abatis, acropolis, advanced work, balistraria, bank, banquette,
barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barricade, barrier, bartizan,
battlement, beachhead, blockhouse, breastwork, bridgehead, bulwark,
bunker, casemate, castle, cheval-de-frise, circumvallation,
citadel, contravallation, counterscarp, curtain, demibastion, dike,
donjon, drawbridge, earthwork, enclosure, entanglement, escarp,
escarpment, fasthold, fastness, fence, fieldwork, fort, fortalice,
fortification, fortress, garrison, garrison house, glacis, hold,
keep, loophole, lunette, machicolation, mantelet, martello,
martello tower, merlon, mote, motte, mound, outwork, palisade,
parados, parapet, peel, peel tower, pillbox, portcullis, post,
postern gate, rampart, rath, ravelin, redan, redoubt, safehold,
sally port, scarp, sconce, stockade, strong point, stronghold,
tenaille, tower, tower of strength, vallation, vallum, ward,
work
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
citadel
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