Word of the Day

: November 7, 2009

bastion

noun BAS-chun

What It Means

1 : a projecting part of a fortification

2 : a fortified area or position

3 a : a place of security or survival

b : a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic

bastion in Context

The university's economics department was considered the last bastion of political conservatism within an otherwise liberal campus.

Did You Know?

"Bastion" is constructed of etymological building blocks that are very similar to those of "bastille" (a word now used as a general term for a prison, but probably best known as the name of the Parisian fortress-turned-prison stormed by an angry mob at the start of the French Revolution). The history of "bastion" can be traced through Middle French to the Old Italian verb "bastire," which means "to build." "Bastille" descends from the Old Occitan verb "bastir," which also means "to build." "Bastir" and "bastire" are themselves of Germanic origin and akin to the Old High German word "besten," meaning "to patch."