Definition of "bastille" in English

noun

1. 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.

2. A jail or prison, especially one regarded as mistreating its prisoners.

3. Synonym of workhouse (“an institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work”).

4. (military, historical) The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place; also, any of the buildings in such an encampment.

verb

1. (transitive, also figuratively) To confine (someone or something) in, or as if in, a bastille (noun noun, sense 2.1) or prison; to imprison.