castle

Noun · Verb
US[kas-uhl]/ˈkæsəl/2 syllables

Open English WordNet

Noun (4)castles

  1. a large and stately mansionSynonyms: palaceType of mansion, mansion houseExamples Buckingham PalaceParts great hall
  2. a large building formerly occupied by a ruler and fortified against attackType of fortification, munitionExamples Balmoral CastleParts keep, turret
  3. (chess) the piece that can move any number of unoccupied squares in a direction parallel to the sides of the chessboardSynonyms: rookType of chessman, chess piece
  4. interchanging the positions of the king and a rookSynonyms: castlingType of chess moveKinds castling short, long castling

Verb (1)castles, castled, castling

  1. move the king two squares toward a rook and in the same move the rook to the square next past the kingMore general move, go
Word of the day · Nov 7About this word
perennialadjective

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

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Translations

Noun fortified building

Spanish
castillo
French
château
German
Burg
Italian
castello
Portuguese
castelo
Turkish
kale
Russian
за́мок zámok
Arabic
قَلْعَة qalʕa
Chinese
城堡 chéngbǎo
Japanese
城 shiro
35 more languages
Dutch
kasteel
Polish
zamek
Swedish
slott
Greek
κάστρο kástro
Korean
성 seong
Indonesian
kastel
Vietnamese
lâu đài
Hungarian
vár
Portuguese (PT)
castelo
Chinese (Trad.)
城堡 chéngbǎo
Albanian
kështjellë
Breton
kastell
Catalan
castell
Czech
hrad
Danish
slot
Esperanto
kastelo
Estonian
kindlus
Finnish
linna
Hebrew
טִירָה tirá
Icelandic
kastali
Kurdish
keleh
Latvian
pils
Lithuanian
pilis
Malagasy
lapa mimanda
Norwegian
borg
Romanian
castel
Scottish Gaelic
caisteal
Serbo-Croatian
dvorac
Slovak
hrad
Slovenian
grad
Swahili
ngome
Walloon
tchestea
Welsh
castell
Yiddish
שלאָס shlos

Verb to castle (chess move)

Spanish
enrocar
French
roquer
German
rochieren
Italian
arroccare
Portuguese
rocar
Chinese
王车易位 wáng chē yìwèi
Dutch
rokeren
Swedish
rockera
Portuguese (PT)
rocar
Chinese (Trad.)
王車易位 wáng chē yìwèi
4 more languages
Catalan
enrocar
Danish
rokere
Finnish
tornittaa
Icelandic
hrókera

The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Cas′tle noun

Origin: AS. castel, fr. L. castellum, dim. of castrum a fortified place, castle.

1. A fortified residence, especially that of a prince or nobleman; a fortress.

The house of every one is to him castle and fortress, as well for his defense againts injury and violence, as for his repose.— Sir Edward. Coke
Our castle's strength Will laugh a siege to scorn.— William Shakespeare

☞ Originally the mediæval castle was a single strong tower or keep, with a palisaded inclosure around it and inferior buidings, such as stables and the like, and surrounded by a moat; then such a keep or donjon, with courtyards or baileys and accessory buildings of greater elaboration a great hall and a chapel, all surrounded by defensive walls and a moat, with a drawbridge, etc. Afterwards the name was retained by large dwellings that had formerly been fortresses, or by those which replaced ancient fortresses.

A Donjon or Keep, an irregular building containing the dwelling of the lord and his family; B C Large round towers ferming part of the donjon and of the exterior; D Square tower, separating the two inner courts and forming part of the donjon; E Chapel, whose apse forms a half-round tower, F, on the exterior walls; G H Round towers on the exterior walls; K Postern gate, reached from outside by a removable fight of steps or inclined plane for hoisting in stores, and leading to a court, L (see small digagram) whose pavement is on a level with the sill of the postern, but below the level of the larger court, with which it communicates by a separately fortified gateway; M Turret, containing spiral stairway to all the stories of the great tower, B, and serving also as a station for signal fire, banner, etc.; N Turret with stairway for tower, C; O Echauguettes; P P P Battlemants consisting of merlons and crenels alternately, the merlons being pierced by loopholes; Q Q Machicolations (those at Q defend the postern K); R Outwork defending the approach, which is a road ascending the hill and passing under all four faces of the castle; S S Wall of the outer bailey. The road of approach enters the bailey at T and passes thence into the castle by the main entrance gateway (which is in the wall between, and defended by the towers, C H) and over two drawbridges and through fortified passages to the inner court.

2. Any strong, imposing, and stately mansion.

3. A small tower, as on a ship, or an elephant's back.

4. A piece, made to represent a castle, used in the game of chess; a rook.

Castle in the air, a visionary project; a baseless scheme; an air castle; — sometimes called a castle in Spain (F. Château en Espagne).

Synonyms: Fortress; fortification; citadel; stronghold. See Fortress.


Cas′tle intransitive verb [past tense & past participle Castled (…); present participle & verbal noun Castling.]

Chess To move the castle to the square next to king, and then the king around the castle to the square next beyond it, for the purpose of covering the king.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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