Definition of donjon in English:

noun

• The great tower or innermost keep of a castle.

  Example sentences

  • ‘While one of the words most commonly identified with castles is ‘keep’, the term is virtually unknown in medieval documentation where the term donjon was generally used.’
  • ‘Indeed, it was his anxiety to survey the scene while laying siege to the donjon at Challus-Chabrol that brought his premature death.’
  • ‘As they progressed through the city toward the donjon in the centre of the city, he realised something that he mentally smacked himself for missing.’
  • ‘At Chepstow too, Roman tile and brick was deliberately re-used, here to form a conspicuous string course on the exterior of the Norman donjon that, with its echoes of imperial authority, faced into the unconquered lands of South Wales.’
  • ‘Thus, for example, while ‘brick houses’ or ‘timber - framed houses’ may indeed be found, ‘moats,’ ‘donjons,’ ‘cruck vaulting,’ or ‘keeps’ - all of which are discussed at several points in the text - cannot.’