castles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of castle.

   Many of the region's castles were built to guard the river crossings.

   Tourists flock to the medieval castles perched above the coastline.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that carries every noun meaning at once: fortified residences, stately mansions, defensive formations in shogi, and instances of castling. At the chessboard it can also mean rooks, but that use is informal, so 'rooks' is the safer word in careful writing about chess. The same spelling serves as the verb for one player's move, and context almost always tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of castle.

   A cautious player usually castles before launching any attack.

   If she castles kingside now, her rook joins the defense immediately.

   Note

   Whether an object follows depends on the game. In chess the verb usually stands alone, as in 'she castles' or 'castles kingside', because the move is the whole action. In cricket it takes the batsman as its object: a bowler castles him with a yorker that knocks over the stumps. Outside games it is transitive too, whether it means housing someone in a castle or, figuratively, shielding them.

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