English

Alternative forms

• barbacan

Noun

barbican ‎(plural barbicans)

1. A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town
2. A fortress at the end of a bridge.
3. An opening in the wall of a fortress through which the guns are levelled; a narrow loophole through which arrows and other missiles may be shot.
   • 1922 James Joyce, Ulysses 11:

     Two shafts of soft daylight fell across the flagged floor from the high barbacans.

4. A temporary wooden tower built for defensive purposes.

Translations

See also

• bartisan

References

• Samuel Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language (1766)
• J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.