4 August 2015
bastion
[bas-chuh n, -tee-uh n]
noun
1. Fortification. a projecting portion of a rampart or fortification that forms an irregular pentagon attached at the base to the main work.
2. a fortified place.
3. anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc.:
a bastion of solitude; a bastion of democracy.
Origin of bastion
Middle French, Italian
1590-1600; < Middle French < Italian bastione, equivalent to Upper Italian bastí (a) bastion, orig., fortified, built (cognate with Italian bastita, past participle of bastire to build < Germanic; see baste1) + -one augmentative suffix
Related forms
bastionary [bas-chuh-ner-ee], adjective
bastioned, adjective
Synonyms
2. fortress, fort, bulwark, stronghold, citadel.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for bastion
Contemporary Examples
Once known as the most polluted place on earth, the city of Linfen is being held up as bastion of green progress.
China’s Chernobyl Cleans Up Its Act
The Telegraph
October 24, 2012
The Supreme Court, which has been a bastion of white men throughout its history, is a favorite target for these critics.
Closing the Case Against Sotomayor
Scott Horton
May 27, 2009
Kaine could be boosted by his subcommittee, a bastion of support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
How Tim Kaine Can Boost the Peace Process
Rachel Cohen
July 30, 2013
Anagram
Obtains
boast in
Today’s quote
Nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon.
– Percy Bysshe Shelley
On this day
4 August 1181 – Supernova (not the rock band), SN1181, observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was visible for 185 days. A supernova is the explosive death of a star, resulting in a nebula of illuminated gas.
4 August 1792 – birth of Percy Bysshe Shelley, English romantic poet, considered to be one the finest lyric poets of all time. Died 8 July 1822.
4 August 1914 – World War I officially starts as Great Britain declares war on Germany in response to the German invasion of Belgium the day before.
4 August 1914 – United States declares its neutrality in World War I.
4 August 1944 – German police and Gestapo officers arrest Jewish diarist, Anne Frank and her family, in Amsterdam. The family was eventually transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In March 1945 a typhus epidemic spread through the camp, claiming the Anne’s life. The camp was liberated only weeks later, in April 1945, by British troops. Anne Frank kept a diary which later was published and became a best seller.
4 August 1964 – the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which it was believed North Vietnamese troops fired on two US destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy. It is now believed the second incident may have involved false radar images and not the North Vietnamese.