castle
/ˈkɑːsəl/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms castles castling castled
- noun A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectural features of medieval castles.
- noun (chess) An instance of castling.
- noun (chess, informal) A rook; a chess piece shaped like a castle tower.
- noun (shogi) A defense structure in shogi formed by defensive pieces surrounding the king.
- noun (obsolete) A close helmet.
- noun (dated) Any strong, imposing, and stately palace or mansion.
- noun (dated) A small tower, as on a ship, or an elephant's back.
- noun (cricket, colloquial) The wicket.
- verb (transitive) To house or keep in a castle.
- verb (transitive, figurative) To protect or separate in a similar way.
- verb (obsolete) To make into a castle: to build in the form of a castle or add (real or imitation) battlements to an existing building.
- verb (usually intransitive, chess) To move the king 2 squares right or left and, in the same turn, the nearest rook to the far side of the king. The move now has special rules: the king cannot be in, go through, or end in check; the squares between the king and rook must be vacant; and neither piece may have been moved before castling.
- verb (usually intransitive, shogi) To create a similar defensive position in Japanese chess through several moves.
- verb (cricket) To bowl a batsman with a full-length ball or yorker such that the stumps are knocked over.
- proper noun (countable) A surname transferred from the common noun referring to someone who lived in or worked in a castle
- proper noun (UK, rail transport) Castle class, a class of steam locomotives used on the GWR
- proper noun The first part of the name of certain nuclear tests by the US: Castle Bravo, Castle Romeo, Castle Yankee etc. See Operation Castle.
- proper noun (UK, Durham University slang) University College, Durham, a constituent college located in Durham Castle
- proper noun A hamlet in Bowerchalke parish, south-west Wiltshire, England (OS grid ref SU0122).
- proper noun A community (without a council) in Cardiff, Wales; it includes Cardiff Castle.
Synonyms
fortress castellate incastellate fortify palace rook castling
Etymology
From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and château.
Parallel borrowings (from Late Latin or Old French) are Scots castel, castell (“castle”), West Frisian kastiel (“castle”), Dutch kasteel (“castle”), German Kastell (“castle”), Danish kastel (“citadel”), Swedish kastell (“citadel”), Icelandic kastali (“castle”), Welsh castell.
The late Old English word was borrowed from biblical Latin castellum which has been translated as town or village. With the sense of castle, from Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French castel (“castle”), itself from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”) (compare modern French château from Old French chastel). If Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”) is from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“hut, shed”), Latin casa (“cottage, hut”) is related. Possibly related also to Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌸𐌾𐍉 (hēþjō, “chamber”), Old English heaþor (“restraint, confinement, enclosure, prison”). See also casino, cassock.
English surname, from the noun castle.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A fortified residence, especially that of a prince or nobleman; a fortress.
- noun Any strong, imposing, and stately mansion.
- verb To move the castle to the square next to king, and then the king around the castle to the square next beyond it, for the purpose of covering the king.
Etymology [AS. castel, fr. L. castellum, dim. of castrum a fortified place, castle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “castle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details