Bawn

//bɔːn// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A cattle-fort; a building used to shelter cattle. Ireland

    "But these round hills and square bawnes, which you see so strongly trenched and throwne up"

  2. 2
    A defensive wall built around a tower house. It was once used to protect livestock during an attack. Ireland

    "He [...] then made his way to where he belonged in Bronding country, home again, sure of his ground in strongroom and bawn."

Verb
  1. 1
    Pronunciation spelling of born. Ireland, alt-of, pronunciation-spelling

    "Bofe de same age, sir—five months. Bawn de fust o' Feb'uary."

Example

More examples

"But these round hills and square bawnes, which you see so strongly trenched and throwne up"

Etymology

From Irish bán, alternative form of bábhún (“walled enclosure”).

Related phrases

tower house

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