Barbican

//ˈbɑːbɪkən// name, noun

name, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town.

    "The stone part of the drawbridge with its barbican and the bartizans of the gatehouse are in good repair. […] There was a large hidden trapdoor in the floor of the barbican, which would let them into the moat after all."

  2. 2
    a tower that is part of a defensive structure (such as a castle) wordnet
  3. 3
    A fortress at the end of a bridge.
  4. 4
    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.

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

  5. 5
    A temporary wooden tower built for defensive purposes.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A neighbourhood in Plymouth, Devon, England (OS grid ref SX4854).
  2. 2
    A neighbourhood and residential estate in the City of London, Greater London, England (OS grid ref TQ3281)

Synonyms

All synonyms
abatisadvanced workantenna towerbalistrariabankbanquette

Example

More examples

"Whilst visiting London, walking in the neighbourhood of the Barbican Centre, I chanced upon a fish and chip shop, where I ordered ravishing fish and chips, wrapped in newspaper. I could get nothing like it back in North America."

Etymology

From Old French barbacane, of uncertain origin: compare Arabic بَرْبَخ (barbaḵ, “aqueduct, sewer”), and Persian بابخانه (bâb-xâne, “gatehouse”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.