barbican definitions

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a tower that is part of a defensive structure (such as a castle) [syn: barbican, barbacan]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French barbecane, from Medieval Latin barbacana Date: 13th century an outer defensive work; especially a tower at a gate or bridge

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the outer defence of a city, castle, etc., esp. a double tower above a gate or drawbridge. Etymology: ME f. OF barbacane, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Barbican Bar"bi*can, Barbacan Bar"ba*can, n. [OE. barbican, barbecan, F. barbacane, LL. barbacana, barbicana, of uncertain origin: cf. Ar. barbakh aqueduct, sewer. F. barbacane also means, an opening to let out water, loophole.] 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.

Moby Thesaurus

abatis, advanced work, antenna tower, balistraria, bank, banquette, barbed-wire entanglement, barricade, barrier, bartizan, bastion, battlement, belfry, bell tower, breastwork, bulwark, campanile, casemate, cheval-de-frise, circumvallation, colossus, column, contravallation, counterscarp, cupola, curtain, demibastion, derrick, dike, dome, drawbridge, earthwork, enclosure, entanglement, escarp, escarpment, fence, fieldwork, fire tower, fortalice, fortification, glacis, lantern, lighthouse, loophole, lunette, machicolation, mantelet, martello, martello tower, mast, merlon, minaret, monument, mound, obelisk, observation tower, outwork, pagoda, palisade, parados, parapet, pilaster, pillar, pinnacle, pole, portcullis, postern gate, pylon, pyramid, rampart, ravelin, redan, redoubt, sally port, scarp, sconce, shaft, skyscraper, spire, standpipe, steeple, stockade, stupa, television mast, tenaille, tope, tour, tower, turret, vallation, vallum, water tower, windmill tower, work