bastille : Idioms & Phrases

Bas*tile" Bas*tille" noun

Etymology

F. bastille fortress, OF. bastir to build, F. btir.

Definitions

1. (Feud. Fort.) A tower or an elevated work, used for the defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place.

   The high bastiles . . . which overtopped the walls. Holland.

2. "The Bastille", formerly a castle or fortress in Paris, used as a prison, especially for political offenders; hence, a rhetorical name for a prison.

Webster 1913

• noun a legal holiday in France celebrating the storming of the Paris bastille in 1789
  14 July.
  

WordNet