bastille

1. (figuratively)Examples: "Thither arriv'd th' advent'rous Knight / And bold Squire from their Steeds alight, / At th' outward Wall, near which [there] stands / A Bastile built t'imprison hands; / By strange enchantment made to fetter / The lesser parts, and free the greater. / For though the Body may creep through, / The Hands in Grate are fast enough."; "―The devil it is! ſaid I—but I vvill go to ten thouſand Baſtiles firſt— […]"; "But Nigel was somewhat immured within the Bastile of his rank, as some philosopher, (Tom Paine, we think,) has happily enough expressed that sort of shyness which men of dignified situations are apt to be beset with, […]"figuratively

2. (figuratively)Synonyms: workhouseBritishderogatoryfiguratively

3. (military, historical) The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place; also, any of the buildings in such an encampment.Examples: "VVhen they ſhould have ſtood to it in field, and fought, then they fled back to their tends: vvhen they vvere to guard and defend their trench and rampart, they ſurrendered them to the enemy: good no vvhere, neither in battel nor in baſtil."historical