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barbican

 
Dictionary: bar·bi·can   (bär'bĭ-kən) pronunciation
 
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n.

A tower or other fortification on the approach to a castle or town, especially one at a gate or drawbridge.

[Middle English, from Old French barbacane, from Medieval Latin barbacana, from Persian barbārkhān : barbār, guard (from Old Iranian *parivāraka-, protective) + khān, house (from Middle Persian).]


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Archaeology Dictionary: barbican
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[Co]

A tower or advance work defending the entrance to a castle.
 
Obscure Words: barbican
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an outer defensive work; esp a tower at a gate or bridge
 
WordNet: barbican
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a tower that is part of a defensive structure (such as a castle)
  Synonym: barbacan

 
Wikipedia: Barbican
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This article is about the type of building. For other uses, see Barbican (disambiguation).
Tourists entering the projecting barbican of Warwick Castle

A barbican (from medieval Latin barbecana, "outer fortification of a city or castle," a general Romanic word, perhaps from Arabic or Persian cf. bab-khanah "gate-house" and "towered gateway"[1] or from the mediaeval English burgh-kenning [2]) is a fortified outpost or gateway, such as an outer defense to a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Usually barbicans were situated outside the main line of defences and connected to the city walls with a walled road called the neck.

In the 15th century, with the improvement in siege tactics and artillery, barbicans lost their significance. However, several barbicans were built even in the 16th century.

See also


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References

  1. ^ "Barbican" EOL Other possible roots of the word lie in the Arabic word barbakh, meaning a canal or channel through which water flows, might have been the source of the loop-hole meaning.
  2. ^ Etymology suggested by Sir Henry Spelman in the 1640s. He explained the name as a combination of “burgh” meaning tower; and “ken” meaning see or watch (as in the folk song “D’ya ken John Peel”). See also Where does the name 'Barbican' come from?

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Barbican".  Read more