Library / English Dictionary

CASTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Interchanging the positions of the king and a rook

Synonyms:

castle; castling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("castle" is a kind of...):

chess move (the act of moving a chess piece)

Derivation:

castle (move the king two squares toward a rook and in the same move the rook to the square next past the king)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large building formerly occupied by a ruler and fortified against attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("castle" is a kind of...):

fortification; munition (defensive structure consisting of walls or mounds built around a stronghold to strengthen it)

Meronyms (parts of "castle"):

donjon; dungeon; keep (the main tower within the walls of a medieval castle or fortress)

turret (a small tower extending above a building)

Instance hyponyms:

Balmoral Castle (a castle in northeastern Scotland that is a private residence of the British sovereign)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(chess) the piece that can move any number of unoccupied squares in a direction parallel to the sides of the chessboard

Synonyms:

castle; rook

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("castle" is a kind of...):

chess piece; chessman (any of 16 white and 16 black pieces used in playing the game of chess)

Domain category:

chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)

Derivation:

castle (move the king two squares toward a rook and in the same move the rook to the square next past the king)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A large and stately mansion

Synonyms:

castle; palace

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("castle" is a kind of...):

hall; manse; mansion; mansion house; residence (a large and imposing house)

Meronyms (parts of "castle"):

great hall (the principal hall in a castle or mansion; can be used for dining or entertainment)

Instance hyponyms:

Buckingham Palace (the London residence of the British sovereign)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move the king two squares toward a rook and in the same move the rook to the square next past the king

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "castle" is one way to...):

go; move (have a turn; make one's move in a game)

Domain category:

chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

castle (interchanging the positions of the king and a rook)

castle ((chess) the piece that can move any number of unoccupied squares in a direction parallel to the sides of the chessboard)

castling (interchanging the positions of the king and a rook)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Her passion for ancient edifices was next in degree to her passion for Henry Tilney—and castles and abbeys made usually the charm of those reveries which his image did not fill.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

If you grabbed piles of grains and built a sand castle on Titan, it would perhaps stay together for weeks due to their electrostatic properties, said Josef Dufek, the Georgia Tech professor who co-led the study.

('Electric Sands' Cover Titan, VOA News)

In the clear embers I was tracing a view, not unlike a picture I remembered to have seen of the castle of Heidelberg, on the Rhine, when Mrs. Fairfax came in, breaking up by her entrance the fiery mosaic I had been piercing together, and scattering too some heavy unwelcome thoughts that were beginning to throng on my solitude.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You will remember there was no road—not even a pathway—between the castle of the Wicked Witch and the Emerald City.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

One day they went to walk in the wood, that they might be alone; and Jorindel said, “We must take care that we don’t go too near to the fairy’s castle.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the castle and are doing work of some kind.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The grass-walled castle and the white, coppered schooner were very near to him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The days had gone by when a nobleman's hall was but a barn-like, rush-strewn enclosure, the common lounge and eating-room of every inmate of the castle.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The high and snowy mountains were its immediate boundaries, but I saw no more ruined castles and fertile fields.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"Wouldn't you have a master for your castle in the air?" asked Laurie slyly.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)