Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A stronghold or fortified place on a hill.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A prehistoric fortification constructed on a hill.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • As for the facilitating connection to the Aegean, we do have the general Bronze Age trade connections, but also the hill-fort at Monkodonja on Istria 1800 BC and other castellieri, displaying similarity with Mycenaean buildings and possibly being a colony from this area.

    Pondering on the phrase 'capite velato' 2010

  • (County Down is directly from the hill-fort at Downpatrick, Dún Pádraig.)

    ἐφοβοῦντο nwhyte 2008

  • And the strong city mourns, the hill-fort planted high,

    Prometheus Bound 2002

  • And the strong city mourns, the hill-fort planted high,

    Prometheus Bound 2002

  • For defense, there was a nearby hill-fort of pre-Roman design -- earthworks with a palisade of wooden stakes at the top, designed with plenty of gaps for bowmen to shoot through.

    Enchantment Card, Orson Scott 1999

  • Newcomer While Ivan slept, Katerina and her father took a walk up to the hill-fort.

    Enchantment Card, Orson Scott 1999

  • Antipatros 'country place was an old run-down hill-fort, overlooking a well-managed rich estate.

    Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981

  • They are mostly at blood-feud with the tribe in the next hill-fort, over the rights to water, or women carried off while gathering wood.

    The Persian Boy Renault, Mary 1972

  • Or now and again some stubborn hill-fort would hold out, and he would make a siege-train; catapults taken apart to load on mules, wood for ladders if the land was treeless; if he could bring one up, a jolting siege-tower, drawn by ten yoke of oxen; litters for the wounded, if it was too rough for wagons.

    The Persian Boy Renault, Mary 1972

  • Our hill-fort was as old as our family, weathered-in with the rocks, its watchtower built up against a crag.

    The Persian Boy Renault, Mary 1972

Comments

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  • A hill fort is a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for military advantage. The fortification usually follows the contours of the hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches.

    October 31, 2008

  • There were lots of iron-age hill forts in the area where I grew up: spawling ruinous things draped disdainfully across the sheep-cropped hillsides. Great for rambling, romping, drinking tea and whisky, and dreaming of eras gone by.

    October 31, 2008