barbican en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈbɑːbɪkən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈbɑɹbɪkən/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Old French barbacane, of uncertain origin: compare Arabic بَرْبَخ (barbaḵ, “aqueduct, sewer”), and Persian بابخانه (bâb-xâne, “gatehouse”).
Meanings
-
A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town.
Near-synonym: guardhouse
The stone part of the drawbridge with its barbican and the bartizans of the gatehouse are in good repair. […] There was a large hidden trapdoor in the floor of the barbican, which would let them into the moat after all.
1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter V, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):
- A fortress at the end of a bridge.
-
An opening in the wall of a fortress through which the guns are levelled; a narrow loophole through which arrows and other missiles may be shot.
Two shafts of soft daylight fell across the flagged floor from the high barbacans.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 11]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
- A temporary wooden tower built for defensive purposes.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| barbicans | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| barbacan | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
Relateds
porte cochère · portcullis · bartisan
Synonyms
guardhouse · arrow-hole · arrowslit · arrow slit · loophole · balistraria
Translations (30)
sl barbakan (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · et barbakaan (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · fi barbakaani (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · es barbacana (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · sh барбакан (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · pl rondel (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · lt barbakanas (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · ru барбака́н (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · ru стре́льница (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · sh barbakan (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · eo barbakano (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · pt barbacã (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · ca barbacana (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · ro barbacană (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · uk барбака́н (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · eu barbakana (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · gl barbacá (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · pl barbakan (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · mk барбакан (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · cs barbakán (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · it barbacane (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · fr barbacane (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · hu barbakán (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · oc barbacana (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · nl barbacane (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · sk barbakán (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · bg барбакан (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · lv barbakāns (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · de Barbakane (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town) · roa-opt barvacãa (A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town)