Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Formerly, an outer inclosure of an Irish castle: nearly equivalent to bailey and outer bailey. In the seventeenth century grants of government land in Ireland were made on the condition that the grantee should build a castle and bawn, the latter for the protection of the cattle of the tenants.
- n. In modern times, in some parts of Ireland— The cattle-yard near a farm-house.
- n. A large house, including all its appurtenances, as offices, courtyard, etc.
- In Ireland, to surround or inclose with a bawn.
Wiktionary
- n. A cattle-fort; a building used to shelter cattle.
- n. A defensive wall built around a tower house. It was once used to protect livestock during an attack.
- v. Eye dialect spelling of born.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete An inclosure with mud or stone walls, for keeping cattle; a fortified inclosure.
- n. obsolete A large house.
Etymologies
- From Irish badhun ("cattle-fort"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The occupants of the largest portions of land were bound, within four years, to build a castle and bawn, that is, a walled enclosure, with towers at the angles, within which was placed the cattle, -- and to plant on their estates forty-eight able-bodied men, eighteen years old or upwards, of English or Scottish descent.”
“The Castle "bawn" was usually enclosed by one or more strong walls, the inner sides of which were lined with barns, stables, and the houses of the retainers.”
“[Footnote 1: A bawn was a place near the house, enclosed with mud or stone walls, to keep the cattle from being stolen in the night, now little used.”
“Can't wait for a comment like this Erstah, dahlin ', my mama wuz bawn and raised on Boojhalay.”
“Bred an born in a brier-patch, Brer Fox, bred en bawn!”
“Bred en bawn in immunity, Nancy -- bred en bawn in immunity! 'en wid dat George en Dick en Karl skip out des ez lively as crickets in de embers.”
“Pe bawn yn ddaearyddwr proffesiynol a dydw i ddim!”
“Sut y byddwn diogelu'r posibilirwydd o dyfu, hynny yw datblgu o fod yn genedl i fod yn gymuned ac wedyn bod yn gymuned gyfiawn, lle mae pawb yn adnabod ei gyfrifoldeb tuag at bawb arall a thros bawn arall?”
“Hoss – Mareens, &c. &c. &c. — is the twenty-foth or fith Marquis that has bawn the Tittle; is disended lenyally from King Pipping, and has almost as antient a paddygree as any which the Ollywell Street frends of the Member of”
“And there she was right enough, that lovely sight enough, the girleen bawn asthore, as for days galore, of planxty Gregory.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bawn’.
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Land
A list of terms for land, landholdings, or words that contain the string -land-.
scabland, wheatland, cornland, slander, land-locked, dryland, riceland, clandestine, acreage, island, Iceland, Greenland and 269 more...
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Castles and Keeps
Shamelessly ripped off from this site and others (to be named hereinafter). (Fair warning: for my own edification, I may add definitions/comments from the site, but you might want to just go there ...
abutment, adulterine, allure, angle-spur, apse, arbalest, arbalestier, arbalist, arcade, arch, armoury, arrow slit and 410 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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household words
oikonomia, domain, menage, mansion, manor, manse, demesne, menial, arsenal, haft, decumbence, katoikountes and 68 more...
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RattlingBooks's list
Words I like that have appeared in titles produced by Rattling Books. Rattling Books is an audio publisher based in Newfoundland. While not strictly focused on things relating to Newfoundland and L...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bawn.
chained_bear Bailey or ward; a defended courtyard of a castle. Aug 24, 2008
rattlingbooks There is a section of the poem Making the Fish by Michael Crummey entitled The Bawn.
Hard Light: 32 Little Stories
a selection of poems
by Michael Crummey
audio from rattlingbooks.com
Hard Light: 32 Little Stories is a retelling and reinvention of tales told to Michael Crummey by his father and other family members about outport Newfoundland and the Labrador fishery of a half-century ago. It’s a love-letter to a world and a way of life that has vanished completely in the last fifty years. All of it is true. Even the lies.
Feb 5, 2008
brtom "The colleen bawn, my colleen bawn. O, cheese it!"
Joyce, Ulysses, 14 Jan 27, 2007