▪ I. bastion
(ˈbæstɪən)
[a. F. bastion, 16th c., ad. It. bastione, f. bastire to build, construct, late L. or common Romanic, of uncertain origin; generally referred to the same root as baston, baton.]
1. A projecting part of a fortification, consisting of an earthwork, faced with brick or stone, or of a mass of masonry, in the form of an irregular pentagon, having its base in the main line, or at an angle, of the fortification; its ‘flanks’ are the two sides which spring from the base, and are shorter than the ‘faces’ or two sides which meet in the acute ‘salient angle.’
cut bastion: one with its salient angle cut off and replaced by an inward angle. detached bastion: one constructed apart from the fortification, also called a lunette. double bastion: two bastions, one placed inside the other. empty bastion: one in which the interior surface is lower than the rampart. flat bastion: one placed in front of a ‘curtain.’ Full bastion or solid bastion: one in which the interior surface is level with the rampart. tower bastion: a tower built like a bastion and provided with casemates.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. iii. 135 Baskets to cary earth to the bastion. 1693 Mem. Ct. Teckely i. 14 This small City, flanked with five good Bastions. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 54 Bastions faced with hewn stone. 1812 Wellington in Gurwood Disp. IX. 27 To breach the face of Bastion at the south east angle of the fort. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. I. v. 58 Sharp as the frontal angle of a bastion. |
2. transf. and fig. Rampart, fortification, defence.
| 1679 Est. Test. 27 The frontier and Bastion of the Protestant Religion. 1781 Cowper Convers. 688 They build each other up..As bastions set point-blank against God's will. 1858 Longfellow Ladder St. Aug. ix, The distant mountains, that uprear Their solid bastions to the skies. |
▪ II. bastion
variant of baston n., a staff.