Bastille - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

bas·tille

Audio Help [ba-steel; Fr. bas-tee-y^uh] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural bas·tilles

Audio Help [ba-steelz; Fr. bas-tee-y^uh] Pronunciation Key.

1.	(initial capital letter) a fortress in Paris, used as a prison, built in the 14th century and destroyed July 14, 1789.

2.	any prison or jail, esp. one conducted in a tyrannical way.

3.	a fortified tower, as of a castle; a small fortress; citadel.

Also, bas·tile

Audio Help [ba-steel] Pronunciation Key.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME bastile < MF, prob. alter. of bastide bastide, with -ile (< ML, L -īle n. suffix of place) r. -ide; r. ME bastel < OF basstel, with -el similarly r. -ide

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Bastille

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

bas·tille Audio Help (bā-stēl') Pronunciation Key
n. A prison; a jail.

[French, from Old French, fortress, alteration of bastide, from Old Provençal bastida, from bastir, to build, of Germanic origin.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Bastille

14c. Paris prison destroyed by revolutionaries on July 14, 1789, lit. "fortress, tower" (see bastion).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

bastille
noun
1.	a fortress built in Paris in the 14th century and used as a prison in the 17th and 18th centuries; it was destroyed July 14, 1789 at the start of the French Revolution
2.	a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner)

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Bastille [(ba-steel)]

A prison in Paris where many political and other offenders were held and tortured until the time of the French Revolution. It was attacked by workers on July 14, 1789, during the revolution; the prisoners were released, and the building was later demolished.