Wiktionary:Word of the day/2023/July 14

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bastille v

(transitive, also figuratively) To confine (someone or something) in, or as if in, a bastille (noun sense 2.1) or prison; to imprison. bastille n Chiefly in French contexts: a bastion (“projecting part of a rampart or other fortification”) or tower of a castle; also, a fortified tower or other building; or a small citadel or fortress. (figuratively) A jail or prison, especially one regarded as mistreating its prisoners. (British, derogatory) Synonym of workhouse (“an institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work”) (military, historical) The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place; also, any of the buildings in such an encampment. Today is Bastille Day, the national day of France which commemorates the storming of the Bastille—a key event in the French Revolution—that took place on this day in 1789, and celebrates the unity of the nation.

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