function / defense / arms storage
function / defense / barracks
function / defense / battlement
function / defense / castle
function / defense / earthworks
function / defense / fort
function / defense / fortification
function / defense / fortress
function / defense / gate
function / defense / tower
function / defense / wall
function / defense / arms storage
- armory: A building used for military training or storage of military equipment. 2. A weapons-manufacturing plant.
- armoury: Also see armory.
- arsenal: A repository or magazine for arms and military equipment. 2. An establishment where arms or military equipment is manufactured. 3. A repository for any type of equipment.
- magazine: A storage place, particularly for explosives and projectiles.
- tezcacoac: An Aztec arsenal.
- barracks: A building for the housing of soldiers, police, or groups of workers.
- caserne: A barrack for troops – a building for the lodging of soldiers. The French term, rare in English; it is used, however, for those buildings of great architectural pretensions which are not uncommon in the cities of the continent. Of these one of the most noted is that facing the Champs de Mars, in Paris, which was built in the reign of Louis XV as a military school, and several others of the 18th century.
function / defense / battlement
- alaryne: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- alerin: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- allering: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- alleringe: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- allure: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- alrine: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- alring: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- alryne: Battlement or parapet-wall: aluryt means ‘with a parapet’ or ‘battlemented.’ 2. Gutter, gallery, or passage behind a parapet at the top of a building. 3. Alura, or clerestory gallery (e.g. at Ely Cathedral). 4. Uppermost part of a wall on which the roof-structure rests. 5. Cloister walkway. 6. Highest part of a building.
- aronade: Battlement with, on the centers of straight-topped merlons, round-topped narrower uprights.
- arbalestina: Also see arbalisteria, balistraria.
- arbalisteria: Also see arbalisteria, balistraria.
- balistraria: In medieval battlements, a loophole or aperture through which crossbowmen shot arrows. 2. The room in which the balistae (crossbows) were kept.
- ballistraria: Also see balistraria.
- battled: Descriptive of anything having battlements.
- battlement: A parapet wall at the edge of a roof with alternating slots and raised portions.
- brandishing: Also see brattishing.
- brattishing: Battlement, parapet, or cresting.
- carnel: An embrasure of a battlement.
- castelet: A small castle. The English form of the French chatelet; rare.
- castellate: Having battlements (parapet walls with notched openings) and turrets like those of a medieval castle.
- castellated: Having battlements (parapet walls with notched openings) and turrets like those of a medieval castle.
- castellation: A short wall topped with alternating indentations and raised portions; also called a battlement.
- chatelet: A castle of small scale.
- cop: Merlon. See battlement.
- crenel: Any one of the open spaces alternating with the merlons in a battlement.
- crenelate: To form with battlements, as a parapet; to furnish with battlements, as a building. In former times in Europe the right to crenelate was a matter of royal licensure. The adjective crenelate is sometimes used instead of crenelated, the participial adjective from the above verb.
- crenelated: Having battlements. 2. Bearing a pattern of repeated indentations.
- crenelation: The notched parapet or battlements at the top of a castle wall.
- crenelet: A small crenel, whether in an actual battlement or in a decorative design imitating one. 2. A small arrow loop.
- crenellate: To form with battlements, as a parapet; to furnish with battlements, as a building. In former times in Europe the right to crenelate was a matter of royal licensure. The adjective crenelate is sometimes used instead of crenelated, the participial adjective from the above verb.
- crenellated: Having battlements. 2. Bearing a pattern of repeated indentations.
- crenellated molding: Molding notched to represent the top of a fortified wall.
- crenellation: The notched parapet or battlements at the top of a castle wall.
- crenelle: An embrasure which, alternating with the elevated portions of a wall, forms a battlement.
- crenelles: Any one of the open spaces alternating with the merlons in a battlement.
- crenels: Any decorative element that simulates a space in a defensive parapet set between merlons.
- crennelation: From Latin crena, “notch.” A series of openings or large notches in a parapet. See battlement.
- embattle: To form or construct with or like battlements, i.e. with merlons and embrasures. The term is applicable alike to structures and to mere ornament resembling battlements in outline, as an embattled fret.
- embattled: Battlemented.
- embattled sandwich molding: A molding profile with a pattern resembling a battlement.
- embattlement: Also see battlement.
- embattlemented: Battlemented.
- garetta: Also see garretta.
- garretta: A medieval term for a turret on the battlements of a castle or house to provide protection for a soldier.
- Guelphic crenellation: See battlement.
- kernel: Same as crenel.
- kirnel: Same as crenel.
- aleaceria: A castle, palace, or other large edifice.
- antemural: The outerworks or wall surrounding and protecting a castle.
- bailey: Castle courtyard and surrounding buildings.
- bayle: The open space contained between the first and second walls of a fortified castle; the open area within a medieval fortification; in complex sites the alley between the several layers of walls is called an “outer bailey”; the central area, the “inner bailey.”
- brattices: Wood overhead screens for castle defenders.
- castellet: A small castle. The English form of the French chatelet; rare.
- castle: A fortified group of buildings usually dominating the surrounding country and held by a prince or noble in feudal times.
- castrum: A castle, fort, or fortified town.
- court of guard: In the military architecture of the Middle Ages, a guardroom, the term being apparently extended from the outer court of a castle where the guard for the day were mustered.
- crosswall: An interior dividing wall of a castle.
- Crusader castles: Twelfth century military architecture in the Middle East, consisting of pilgrims’ forts, coastal fortifications, and large castles.
- great hall: A large hall serving as the main or central gathering space of a castle.
- hourdes: Wooden overhead screens for castle defenders.
- jokaku: The stronghold or citadel of an ancient Japanese castle.
- necessarium: The privy of an ancient castle or of a monastery.
- outer bailey: An area in a medieval castle outside the inner walls.
- outer ward: An area in a medieval castle outside the inner walls.
- schloss: The castle of a feudal lord.
- shell-keep: The circular or oval wall surrounding inner portion of castle.
- statio: The Latin name for a castle, citadel, or fort.
- tenshu-kaku: The keep or donjon of a Japanese castle.
- wall-walk: A passage along castle wall.
- wall chamber: A chamber built in the thickness or mass of a wall, as often in a mediaeval castle in the upper stories.
function / defense / earthworks
- agger murorum: An embankment upon which the walls and towers of an ancient fortified Roman city were built, and which served as a rampart upon which the garrison was stationed to defend it.
- berm: An earth embankment placed against a masonry foundation wall, or simply an elongated mound of earth. 2. A bank of earth placed against one or more exterior walls of a building as protection against extremes in temperature.
- counterscarp: The outer slope of a ditch.
- escarpment: A steep slope in front of a fortification to impede the approach of an enemy.
- moat : A trench surrounding a defense wall.
- moat hill: A tumulus surrounded by a moat. These remains of prehistoric antiquity, though often called barrows, are more commonly remains of dwellings or fortifications.
- motte: An artificial earth-mound for keeps of 11th and 12th century castles.
- motte and bailey: A defense system consisting of an earthen mound (often placed within an enclosure bailey).
- motte-and-bailey: An earth-mound with wood or stone keep, surrounded by ditched and palisade enclosure (or courtyard).
- multivallate: Defended by three or more concentric banks and ditches, as in a hill-fort.
- parados: Earthworks behind a fortified place.
- scarp: The slope on inner side of ditch.
- terreplein: An earth embankment, flattened at the top.
- bivalate: A hillfort defended by two concentric ditches.
- castellum: See castellum aquae. 2. A small fortified town, or fort surrounded by a village.
- castellum aquae: Also see castellum.
- durga: In India, a fort or fortified city.
- fort: A fortified place of exclusively military nature.
- hill fort: A rude defensive post occupying the summit of a hill or a strong position among hills, as, in antiquity, those which grew to be the citadels of important towns; and, as in India, the works of native tribes.
- hillfort: A rude defensive post occupying the summit of a hill or a strong position among hills, as, in antiquity, those which grew to be the citadels of important towns; and, as in India, the works of native tribes.
- presidio: In Spanish America, a frontier outpost or fort.
function / defense / fortification
- acropolis: The citadel in ancient Greek towns.
- advanced work: Fortifications in front of the main defensive building.
- Akropolis: Fortified citadel in Greek cities. “The Acropolis” usually refers to the one in Athens.
- alcala: A Moorish citadel.
- alcazar: A Moorish or Spanish citadel.
- assommoir: A gallery built over a door or passage of a fortified place, from which stones and heavy objects could be hurled down on the enemy.
- ballium: The court of open space within a medieval fortification.
- bastel: Mid 16th to mid-17th c. fortified farmhouse, with accommodation for livestock on the vaulted ground-floor, usually found in the Border counties of Scotland and England.
- bastel house: A partly fortified house whose lowest story usually is vaulted.
- bastion: A solid masonry projection.
- bastle: Mid 16th to mid-17th c. fortified farmhouse, with accommodation for livestock on the vaulted ground-floor, usually found in the Border counties of Scotland and England.
- bawn: A fortified enclosure, often of mud or stone, surrounding a farmyard or castle, especially in Ireland.
- berme: A ledge between the exterior slope of a rampart and the moats of a fortification. Also, berm.
- block house: In military architecture, a structure of informal character, frequently of wood, built to protect a small party who may have to defend a pass, a ford, or the like…
- blockhouse: A fortified structure, usually of hewn logs.
- block-house: Structure, frequently of timber, often for defensive purposes, constructed of logs.
- brattice: Bartizan. 2. Timber construction overhanging a wall on a fortification.
- caer-: A prefix signifying a fortified wall, castle, or city, occurring in place names in Wales and parts of western and northern England.
- caher: In Ireland, an ancient stone enclosure, often circular in plan, which was used as a field fortification; built of uncemented masonry enclosing an area of from 40 to 200 ft (approx. 12 to 60 m) in diameter and having subterranean chambers.
- cahir: In Ireland, an ancient stone enclosure, often circular in plan, which was used as a field fortification; built of uncemented masonry enclosing an area of from 40 to 200 ft (approx. 12 to 60 m) in diameter and having subterranean chambers.
- casemate: A vault or chamber in a bastion, having openings for the firing of weapons.
- cat: Strong movable penthouse to protect besiegers. 2. Lofty work used in fortifications and sieges. 3. Double tripod with six legs.
- cathair: Also see caher.
- chester: Anglo-Saxon term for a fortified town built on the site of a Roman military post.
- chevaux de frise: Defensive arrangement of sharp obstacles set in the ground before a fortification to deter or slow a frontal assault.
- circumvallate: To surround an area with a wall or ramparts.
- citadel: A stronghold; originally one protecting a city.
- commandery: A building used by one of the military orders, such as the Templars, as the place of meeting and of the central control of a district…
- contravallation: A series of redoubts and breastworks, either unconnected or united by a parapet, raised by the besiegers about the place invested, to guard against sorties of the garrison.
- countermure: In fortification, a wall raised behind another to supply its place when a breach is made. 2. A wall raised in front of another partition wall to strengthen it; a contramure.
- crenelated moldings: A molding notched or indented to represent merlons and embrasures in fortification.
- defensive architecture: Military architecture, e.g. castles, city walls, and fortifications. 2. Architecture that looks inwards, giving protection from hostile urban environments…
- demilune: See ravelin.
- drawbridge: A movable bridge; originally moved horizontally like a gangway.
- emplecton: A type of masonry commonly used by the Romans and Greeks, especially in fortification walls, in which the exterior faces of the wall were built of ashlar in alternate headers and stretchers, and with the intervening space filled with rubble.
- emplectum: A type of masonry commonly used by the Romans and Greeks, especially in fortification walls, in which the exterior faces of the wall were built of ashlar in alternate headers and stretchers, and with the intervening space filled with rubble.
- face: To overlay one material with another, as to face a brick wall with marble. 2. The exposed side of a unit of masonry. 3. Either of the two outer sides that form the salient angle of a bastion.
- fortified: Describing a structure or member provided with defensive elements, such as crenels and merlons.
- glacis: A sloped embankment in front of a fortification, so raised as to bring an advancing enemy into the most direct line of fire. 2. The inclined surface of a cornice or projecting molding.
- half moon: A roughly crescent-shaped fortification outwork. Also see ravelin.
- half-moon: A roughly crescent-shaped fortification outwork. Also see ravelin.
- intermural: Between the outer walls, as of a walled city.
- kal’a: Also see qala’a.
- kepe: Same as keep.
- military architecture: See fortification.
- oreillon: Round shoulder at the end of the face of a bastion next to a flank. 2. Any ear-shaped appendage.
- oubliette: A dungeon in a stronghold, usually with a pit in which the victim really becomes “forgotten.”
- outwork: A minor defensive position established beyond a main fortified area.
- pale: A flat strip (slat) or round stake, usually of wood; set in series to form a fence. 2. An area enclosed by such stakes. 3. Designating a color having high lightness and low saturation.
- palisade: A stockade fence built by setting logs with pointed tops into the ground in long rows.
- parade: Place (parade-ground) where troops assemble for parade. 2. Level space forming the interior or enclosed area of a fortification. 3. Public square or promenade.
- peel: In northern England and Scotland in the Middle Ages, a small, emergency defense structure, generally a low, fortified tower, usable as a dwelling place.
- pele: Also see peel.
- pile tower: Also see peel.
- ravelin: In fortifications, a projecting outwork forming a salient angle.
- redoubt: A small fortification detached from the principal site.
- redan: Small ravelin or fieldwork with two faces forming a salient angle. 2. Projection or break at the angle of panel. 3. Step in a wall built on rising ground.
- reduit: As redoubt.
- retrenchment: Work, usually a trench and parapet, for defense, especially an inner line of defense.
- ribat: In Muslim architecture, a frontier garrison or fortified barracks.
- sentry-box: Enclosure to give shelter to a guardsman before a royal or public edifice. Usually a timber structure, painted, some sentry-boxes are incorporated within the wall of a building.
- shoulder: A projection or break made on a piece of shaped wood, metal, or stone, where its width or thickness is suddenly changed. Also called ear, elbow. 2. The angle of a bastion included between the face and the flank of a fortification. Also called shoulder angle. 3. The end surface from which a tenon projects.
- tenaille: Low outwork consisting of one or two re-entrant angles in front of the curtain-wall between bastions.
- tenaillon: Work in a fortification strengthening the sides of a ravelin.
- tiyotipi: Among the Dakota Indians, a soldier’s lodge…
- tlillancalli: An Aztec building used for a military school.
- wu pao: A fortification used by ancient Chinese landlords or small warlords.
- tower-house: Compact fortified house of several story’s with its main chamber or hall on an upper story, usually over vaulted lower floors. Common in Scotland (where many spectacular examples survive) and Ireland, tower-houses were still being built in 17th c.
- bent approach: An arrangement of two gateways not in line, so that it is necessary to make a sharp turn to pass through the second; for privacy in houses or temples, for security in fortifications.
- portcullis: A grating dropped vertically from grooves to block passage of gate in castle; of wood, metal or a combination of the two.
- sally port: An underground passage or concealed gate which serves to link the central and outer works of a fortress.
- sally-port: Postern or side-gate, or a subterranean passage, between the inner and outer works of a fortification, used by defenders to sally forth.
- angle tower: Tower at the conjunction of fortified walls.
- barbacan: A watchtower on, or outside of, a stronghold.
- barbican: A structure in a medieval fortification that flanks the approach to a gate and serves as a watchtower.
- bartizan: Overhanging battlemented corner turret, corbelled out; common in Scotland (and France).
- bastile: A fortified tower. Le Bastile de la Porte S. Antoine is the chief state prison of France, built by Charles V.
- border tower: Along the Scotch and English border, a small fortified tower or keep, common from the early Middle Ages to the 17th century. It was the manor house of those districts, and as such formed a place of refuge for tenants and neighbors.
- breteche: A crenelated tower or bay of wood in medieval fortifications.
- bretess: A crenelated tower or bay of wood in medieval fortifications.
- bretesse: A crenelated tower or bay of wood in medieval fortifications.
- bretex: A crenelated tower or bay of wood in medieval fortifications.
- bretise: A crenelated tower or bay of wood in medieval fortifications.
- bretiss: In medieval fortifications, a tower or bay of timber construction. Same as brattice.
- bretisse: A crenelated tower or bay of wood in medieval fortifications.
- brettys: In medieval fortifications, a tower or bay of timber construction. Same as brattice.
- donjon: The principal tower of a castle; keep.
- dungeon: The principal and strongest tower of a castle; the keep. 2. A dim chamber in a medieval castle, usually at the base of the keep. 3. Any dark cell or prison, usually underground.
- échauguette: A turret, watch tower, or other place, provided for guards or watchmen; usually, in Medieval fortifications, corbelled out from a curtain wall or from a salient angle, and dominating the battlements, either open or with a roof. Hence, in modern usage, an angle turret springing from a corbel or cul de lampe, as in many late Gothic and early Renaissance houses in France and Germany.
- feng huo t’ai: Along the Great Wall of China, one of a number of well-fortified rectangularly shaped towers, placed at intervals of approximately 1 and 1/2 miles; fires, built on such towers, were used as signals or beacons.
- keep: Main tower.
- phyrctorion: In ancient Greece, a watchtower from which a sentinel could warn of the approach of a hostile force, by means of fire.
- round tower: In early Christian architecture, especially in Ireland, a conically capped circular tower of stone construction; used for defense.
- shot tower: A high tower, usually round, in which shot are made by dropping molten lead from an upper story into a cistern of water.
- tourelle: A small turret projecting from the wall above ground level.
- turret: A small, slender tower usually at the corner of a building, often containing a circular stair.
- turris: A tower of a fortification, placed at intervals in the walls of an ancient city or any other fortified enclosure.
- wall tower: A tower built in connection with or forming an essential part of a wall, especially one of a series of towers to provide a strengthening of the fortification.
- watch tower: In medieval fortifications, a powerful tower used for observation or as a final refuge for the inhabitants, although unlike a donjon it was not normally equipped with living quarters.
- archeria: In medieval fortifications, an aperture through which an archer or longbowman might discharge arrows.
- arrow loop: Also see loophole.
- arrow slit: Thin opening in fortified wall to allow defenders to shoot arrows.
- arrowslit: A thin vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows.
- bulwark: A strong defensive wall structure, generally low enough to permit defensive fire.
- chemen-de-ronde: A continuous gangway behind a rampart, providing a means of communication along a fortified wall.
- chemin-de-ronde: In French, and by adoption in English, a continuous gangway behind a rampart; providing a means of communication along the walls of a fortified enclosure.
- enceinte: An outer wall enclosing a group of buildings.
- eyelet: A small opening for light and air, or for the discharge of missiles, in the wall or parapet of a mediaeval castle; usually widening toward the interior, or backed by an embrasure. The opening was usually round or square, or else extremely long and narrow; sometimes with a cross slit, or enlarged at the center or ends by a round aperture for the discharge of firearms.
- fenestra: A loophole in the walls of a fortress, from which missiles were discharged. 2. Ancient equivalent of a window.
- fossa: In ancient Rome, a trench, especially one outside a city wall.
- k’uo: In Chinese architecture: 1. A citadel. 2. A fortified city wall. 3. The battlements on a city wall.
- machicolation: On castles and fortifications in the middle ages, parapets were often extended out on corbels so that they projected beyond the wall and left an opening through which missiles could be launched at advancing assailants. Later this design was used as a decorative accent on towers. See also castellation and scalloping.
- meurtrière: Narrow opening in a fortified wall for the firing of projectiles.
- meutrieres: Narrow opening in a fortified wall for the firing of projectiles.
- mur de retranchement: Wall of entrenchment, part of a fortification; ditch for defense, perhaps ancestor of the ha-ha.
- murus: A wall of stone or brick, built as a defense and fortification around an ancient Roman town. Also see paries.
- oeillet: Small circular loophole in medieval fortified wall for bows or guns to be fired from.
- oilet: Same as eyelet.
- oillet: A small opening, or circular loophole, in a fortification of the Middle Ages.
- oillets: Arrow slits in the walls of medieval fortifications, but more strictly applied to the round hole or circle with which the openings terminate. The same term is applied to the small circles inserted in the tracery-head of the windows of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods, sometimes varied with trefoils and quatrefoils.
- oillette: A small opening, or circular loophole, in a fortification of the Middle Ages.
- oyelet: Also see eyelet.
- pomerium: The space, originally along an ancient Roman city wall within and without, which was left vacant and considered holy; marked off by stone pillars and consecrated by a religious ceremony. 2. A peripheral ring road around a fortress or fortified city.
- pomoerium: Also see pomerium.
- rampart: Ramparts are the old city walls built to protect the inhabitants from attack. They can be built of stone, brick, wood, or pise (baked clay) and can have round or square towers at intervals that serve as barracks, granaries, or arsenals.
- tallet: Batter, so a tallus-wall is a battered retaining wall, especially in fortifications. 2. Any space beneath the pitched roof of a building. 3. Hay-loft.
- tallot: Batter, so a tallus-wall is a battered retaining wall, especially in fortifications. 2. Any space beneath the pitched roof of a building. 3. Hay-loft.
- tallus: Batter, so a tallus-wall is a battered retaining wall, especially in fortifications. 2. Any space beneath the pitched roof of a building. 3. Hay-loft.
- tallut: Batter, so a tallus-wall is a battered retaining wall, especially in fortifications. 2. Any space beneath the pitched roof of a building. 3. Hay-loft.
- talut: Batter, so a tallus-wall is a battered retaining wall, especially in fortifications. 2. Any space beneath the pitched roof of a building. 3. Hay-loft.
- vaimure: In fortifications, a false wall; a work raised in front of the main wall. 2. The alure or walkway along ramparts behind the parapet.
- vallum: A rampart, especially a palisaded rampart; the ramparts with which the Romans enclosed their camps.
- vamure: In fortifications, a false wall; a work raised in front of the main wall. 2. The alure or walkway along ramparts behind the parapet.
Also see Architecture index.