From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Bastion \Bas"tion\ (b[a^]s"ch[u^]n; 106), noun [F. bastion (cf. It. bastione), fr. LL. bastire to build (cf. F. b[^a]tir, It. bastire), perh. from the idea of support for a weight, and akin to Gr. basta'zein to lift, carry, and to E. baston, baton.] (Fort.) A work projecting outward from the main inclosure of a fortification, consisting of two faces and two flanks, and so constructed that it is able to defend by a flanking fire the adjacent curtain, or wall which extends from one bastion to another. Two adjacent bastions are connected by the curtain, which joins the flank of one with the adjacent flank of the other. The distance between the flanks of a bastion is called the gorge. A lunette is a detached bastion. See {Ravelin}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a group that defends a principle; "a bastion against corruption"; "the last bastion of communism"
2: a stronghold into which people could go for shelter during a battle [syn: {citadel}]
3: projecting part of a rampart or other fortification
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
87 Moby Thesaurus words for "bastion": abatis, acropolis, advanced work, balistraria, bank, banquette, barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barricade, barrier, bartizan, battlement, beachhead, blockhouse, breastwork, bridgehead, bulwark, bunker, casemate, castle, cheval-de-frise, circumvallation, citadel, contravallation, counterscarp, curtain, demibastion, dike, donjon, drawbridge, earthwork, enclosure, entanglement, escarp, escarpment, fasthold, fastness, fence, fieldwork, fort, fortalice, fortification, fortress, garrison, garrison house, glacis, hold, keep, loophole, lunette, machicolation, mantelet, martello, martello tower, merlon, mote, motte, mound, outwork, palisade, parados, parapet, peel, peel tower, pillbox, portcullis, post, postern gate, rampart, rath, ravelin, redan, redoubt, safehold, sally port, scarp, sconce, stockade, strong point, stronghold, tenaille, tower, tower of strength, vallation, vallum, ward, work
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