different between barbican vs barmkin

English

Alternative forms

• barbacan

Etymology

From Old French barbacane, of uncertain origin: compare Arabic ???????? (barba?, “aqueduct, sewer”), and Persian ????????? (bâb-khâne, “gatehouse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b??(?)b?k?n/

Noun

barbican (plural barbicans)

1. A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town
2. A fortress at the end of a bridge.
3. 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.
   • 1922 James Joyce, Ulysses 11:

     Two shafts of soft daylight fell across the flagged floor from the high barbacans.

4. A temporary wooden tower built for defensive purposes.

Synonyms

• (entryway fortification): see guardhouse

Translations

See also

• bartisan

References

• Samuel Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language (1766)
• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “barbican”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

English

Noun

barmkin (plural barmkins)

1. (obsolete) The battlement on the exterior fortification of a castle in northern England and parts of Scotland; a barbican.