Search

a fortified, usually walled residence, as of a prince or noble in feudal times.
the chief and strongest part of the fortifications of a medieval city.
a strongly fortified, permanently garrisoned stronghold.
a large and stately residence, especially one, with high walls and towers, that imitates the form of a medieval castle.
any place providing security and privacy:
It may be small, but my home is my castle.
Chess. the rook.
to place or enclose in or as in a castle.
Chess. to move (the king) in castling.
to move the king two squares horizontally and bring the appropriate rook to the square the king has passed over.
(of the king) to be moved in this manner.
Irene (Foote) 1893–1969, born in the U.S., and her husband and partner Vernon, (Vernon Castle Blythe), 1887–1918, born in England, U.S. ballroom dancers.
German Das Schloss. a novel (1926) by Franz Kafka.
Contemporary Examples

The success this year of Modern Family, castle, The Bachelor, and Dancing With the Stars masks deeper problems at the network.
Stephen McPherson Finally Out at ABC Peter Lauria July 26, 2010

Denton, who speaks in the clipped cadence of the Oxford-educated Brit he is, has built quite a castle.
The Gospel According to Nick Denton—What Next For The Gawker Founder? Lloyd Grove December 13, 2014

Winterfell is in fact castle Ward, which may be more familiar as Winterfell, overlooks the beautiful Strangford Lough.
Queen To Visit Westeros Tom Sykes June 19, 2014

Well, the dwarfs took pity on him and gave him the coffin, and the prince had it carried to his castle.
In New Brothers Grimm ‘Snow White’, The Prince Doesn’t Save Her The Brothers Grimm November 29, 2014

Since then, any lord who has been unlucky enough to reside over the castle has died horribly.
‘Game of Thrones’ Season 2 for Dummies Jace Lacob March 27, 2012

Historical Examples

Let the waters of the Danube bear him past the castle of his lady.
Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 Various

Somewhere between 1267 and 1280 the castle had been destroyed and rebuilt.
The Grand Old Man Richard B. Cook

The triumph of the castle was completed by the capture of Neilson and the Sheares.
William Pitt and the Great War John Holland Rose

Hawarden is called a castle, but it has not, either in its exterior or interior, the aspect of a castle.
The Grand Old Man Richard B. Cook

Sprugeon was quite sure that the castle influence was predominant.
The Prime Minister Anthony Trollope

noun
a fortified building or set of buildings, usually permanently garrisoned, as in medieval Europe
any fortified place or structure
a large magnificent house, esp when the present or former home of a nobleman or prince
the citadel and strongest part of the fortifications of a medieval town
(chess) another name for rook2
verb
(chess) to move (the king) two squares laterally on the first rank and place the nearest rook on the square passed over by the king, either towards the king’s side (castling short) or the queen’s side (castling long)
n.

late Old English castel “village” (this sense from a biblical usage in Vulgar Latin); later “large fortified building, stronghold,” in this sense from Old North French castel (Old French chastel, 12c.; Modern French château), from Latin castellum “a castle, fort, citadel, stronghold; fortified village,” diminutive of castrum “fort,” from Proto-Italic *kastro- “part, share;” cognate with Old Irish cather, Welsh caer “town” (and perhaps related to castrare via notion of “cut off;” see caste). In early bibles, castle was used to translate Greek kome “village.”

This word also had come to Old English as ceaster and formed the -caster and -chester in place names. Spanish alcazar “castle” is from Arabic al-qasr, from Latin castrum. Castles in Spain translates 14c. French chastel en Espaigne (the imaginary castles sometimes stood in Brie, Asia, or Albania) and probably reflects the hopes of landless knights to establish themselves abroad. The statement that an (English) man’s home is his castle is from 16c.
v.

move in chess, recorded under this name from 1650s, from castle (n.), as an old alternative name for the rook, one of the pieces moved. Related: Castled; castling.

a military fortress (1 Chr. 11:7), also probably a kind of tower used by the priests for making known anything discovered at a distance (1 Chr. 6:54). Castles are also mentioned (Gen. 25:16) as a kind of watch-tower, from which shepherds kept watch over their flocks by night. The “castle” into which the chief captain commanded Paul to be brought was the quarters of the Roman soldiers in the fortress of Antonia (so called by Herod after his patron Mark Antony), which was close to the north-west corner of the temple (Acts 21:34), which it commanded.