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Barbacan   Listen
noun
Barbacan, Barbican  n.  
1.
(Fort.) A tower or advanced work defending the entrance to a castle or city, as at a gate or bridge. It was often large and strong, having a ditch and drawbridge of its own.
2.
An opening in the wall of a fortress, through which missiles were discharged upon an enemy.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Barbacan" Quotes from Famous Books



... unhappy young viscount died. The outer fortifications were erected by Louis IX. and his son, Philip the Bold. The Visigoth walls were defended by thirty-two towers, of which only one was square. Louis IX. constructed a great barbican below the castle, commanding the bridge over the Aude, but that was ...
— In Troubadour-Land - A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc • S. Baring-Gould
... moisture gives to stone. The passer-by feels chilled as he walks close to this wall, where worn corner-stones ineffectually shelter him from the wheels of vehicles. As is always the case in houses built before carriages were in use, the vault of the doorway forms a very low archway not unlike the barbican of a prison. To the right of this entrance there are three windows, protected outside by iron gratings of so close a pattern, that the curious cannot possibly see the use made of the dark, damp rooms within, and ...
— The Commission in Lunacy • Honore de Balzac


Words linked to "Barbacan" :   tower


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