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plural barbicans
A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town. quotations examples
The stone part of the drawbridge with its barbican and the bartizans of the gatehouse are in good repair. […] There was a large hidden trapdoor in the floor of the barbican, which would let them into the moat after all.
1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter V, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, book I (The Sword in the Stone)
A fortress at the end of a bridge. examples
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. quotations examples
Two shafts of soft daylight fell across the flagged floor from the high barbacans.
1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 11]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […]
A temporary wooden tower built for defensive purposes. examples