Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Bastile Bastille \Bas*tile" Bas*tille"\, n. [F. bastille
   fortress, OF. bastir to build, F. b?tir.]
   1. (Feud. Fort.) A tower or an elevated work, used for the
      defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place.

            The high bastiles . . . which overtopped the walls.
                                                  --Holland.

   2. ``The Bastille'', formerly a castle or fortress in Paris,
      used as a prison, especially for political offenders;
      hence, a rhetorical name for a prison.