1. bastille(n = noun.artifact) - a fortress built in Paris in the 14th century and used as a prison in the 17th and 18th centuries; it was destroyed July 14, 1789 at the start of the French Revolution;
is a kind of fort, fortress
is a part of capital of france, city of light, french capital, paris
2. bastille(n = noun.artifact) - a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner);
is a kind of clink, gaol, jail, jailhouse, pokey, poky, slammer, prison, prison house
1. A tower or an elevated work, used for the defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place. [1913 Webster]
"The high bastiles . . . which overtopped the walls." [1913 Webster]
2. “The Bastille”, formerly a castle or fortress in Paris, used as a prison, especially for political offenders; hence, a rhetorical name for a prison. [1913 Webster]
bastille, n. hist. a fortress or prison.
Etymology:
ME f. OF bastille f. Prov. bastir build: orig. of the fortress and prison in Paris, destroyed in 1789
N prison, prison house, jail, gaol, cage, coop, den, cell, stronghold, fortress, keep, donjon, dungeon, Bastille, oubliette, bridewell, house of correction, hulks, tollbooth, panopticon, penitentiary, guardroom, lockup, hold, round house, watch house, station house, sponging house, station, house of detention, black hole, pen, fold, pound, inclosure, isolation (exclusion), penal settlement, penal colony, bilboes, stocks, limbo, quod, calaboose, chauki, choky, thana, workhouse, Newgate, Fleet, Marshalsea, King's Bench, Queen's Bench, bond, bandage, irons, pinion, gyve, fetter, shackle, trammel, manacle, handcuff, straight jacket, strait jacket, strait-jacket, strait-waistcoat, hopples, vice, vise, yoke, collar, halter, harness, muzzle, gag, bit, brake, curb, snaffle, bridle, rein, reins, bearing rein, martingale, leading string, tether, picket, band, guy, chain, cord, cavesson, hackamore, headstall, jaquima, lines, ribbons, bolt, deadbolt, bar, lock, police lock, combination lock, padlock, rail, wall, stone wall, paling, palisade, fence, picket fence, barbed wire fence, Cyclone fence, stockade fence, chain-link fence, barrier, barricade, drag.