barmkin north. arch.
(ˈbɑːmkɪn)
Forms: 4 barmeken, (5 barnekynch), 6 barmekyn, -kin, barnekine, 5– barmkin.
[Perh. f. Teut. barm (ON. barmr brim, border, edge, wing of castle; cf. berm). The second syllable may be the dim. suffix -kin, though the meaning hardly suits. Possibly a corruption of, or confused with, barbican.]
The battlement of the outer fortification of a castle; the outer fortification, or barbican; a turret or watch tower on the outer wall.
| c 1340 Alexander (Stev.) 1301 Balaan in þe barmeken · sa bitterly fiȝtis. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 375 At the barnekynch he abad, And lordelych doune lyght. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1067 Fehew him self..Throuch all the fyr can on the barmkyn lycht. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. x. 64 Thame quhilkis on the barmkin heid remanis. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 874/2 Ouerthrew eighteene towers of stone, with all their barnekines. a 1811 J. Leyden Ld. Soulis v, And he call'd on a page, who was witty and sage, To go to the barmkin high. |