fortress
To furnish with a fortress or with fortressesTo furnish with a fortress or with fortresses; to guard, to fortify.
» The fortress was in the enemy's hands.
Крепость была в руках врага. — marafon
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 sensesTo furnish with a fortress or with fortresses; to guard, to fortify.
Examples
53 sentencesThe fortress was in the enemy's hands.
ruКрепость была в руках врага. — marafon
You can still see the remains of the fortress there.
They built the walls of the fortress without using cement at all.
The soldiers soon overran the fortress.
His house looked like a fortress.
Origin
Early 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece (“strong place, fortificatiEarly 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece (“strong place, fortification”), variant of fortelesse, from Medieval Latin fortalitia, from Latin fortis (“strong”) (see fort) + -itia, added to adjectives to form nouns of quality or condition. French -ess, from Latin -itia is also in words such as duress, prowess, largesse and richesse. For change of medial -l- to -r- in Old French, compare orne (“elm”) from ulmus; chartre from cartula and chapitre from capitulum. First attested in the 12th century.
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Forms
fortresses, fortressing, fortressed, fortressed| Base form | fortress · to fortress |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | fortresses |
| Present participle | fortressing |
| Past simple | fortressed |
| Past participle | fortressed |
regular · Lesson
Lessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle