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an outwork of a fortified place, as a castle.
a defensive outpost of any sort.
contemporary examples

we started making them for a retrospective nine years ago that we were invited to in london at the barbican art gallery.
inside viktor & rolf’s dollhouse isabel wilkinson june 9, 2013

historical examples

so somehow or other the jacktars got the lobster out, and set the mayor free, and put him ash-r- at the barbican.
the water-babies charles kingsley

i will be off the landing-place at the barbican with a boat.
the ocean cat’s paw george manville fenn

barbacan, or barbican, a fortification to a castle outside the walls, generally at the end of the drawbridge in front of the gate.
the nuttall encyclopaedia edited by rev. james wood

he dyed about 1647; buried in cripplegate church, from his house in the barbican.
brief lives (vol. 2 of 2) john aubrey

at present she’s living in plymouth, -ssistant in a ham-and-beef shop, as you turn down to the barbican.
poison island arthur thomas quiller-couch (q)

some remains of the old barbican were to be seen here in the last century.
bygone london frederick ross

barbican, opening his note-book, made the proper entry among the minutes of the meeting of december 6th.
all around the moon jules verne

the said suburb extended from the barbican of the city as far as the corner of the said city.
ancient armour and weapons in europe john hewitt

what did they see, what could they see at a distance so uncertain that barbican has never been able even to guess at it?
all around the moon jules verne

noun
a walled outwork or tower to protect a gate or drawbridge of a fortification
a watchtower projecting from a fortification
noun
the barbican, a building complex in the city of london: includes residential developments and the barbican arts centre (completed 1982) housing concert and exhibition halls, theatres, cinemas, etc
n.

“outer fortification of a city or castle,” mid-13c., from old french barbacane (12c.), a general romanic word, perhaps ultimately from arabic or persian (cf. bab-khanah “gate-house”).