Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1795-1832, 1902
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BASTILE, BASTEL, BASTLE, n. A strong stone tower or fortress, used for securing prisoners. Arch.Bwk. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XIV. 35–37:
The last mentioned vestige of feudal antiquity was that of the bastiles. . . . These edifices not only served the purposes of prisons, but . . . they constituted a chain of fortresses, running, partly on Whittadder and Blackadder banks, from almost the one end of the county to the other. Thus, we can reckon a line of them, at short distances, in this neighbourhood, viz. Kello-bastel, in Edrom parish; the Bastel-dikes here; Foulden-bastel, etc.Bwk. 1832 A. Henderson Pop. Rhymes (1856) 16:
And we deserve the bastle, For stealin' yarn.
Comb.: bastle-house, a fortified house.Peb. 1902 W. S. Crockett Scott Country xi.:
There were severa; . . . bastle-houses in and around Peebles, but all have disappeared.
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"Bastile n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 22 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/bastile>
