chateau

Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.

Related to chateau: chateau wine, Chateau d'If

cha·teau

also châ·teau (shă-tō′)

n. pl. cha·teaus or cha·teaux (-tōz′)

1. A castle or manor house in a French-speaking region.

2. An estate where wine is produced and often bottled, especially in the Bordeaux region of France.

3. A large country house.

[French château, from Old French chastel, from Latin castellum, castle; see castle.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chateau

(ˈʃætəʊ; French ʃɑto) or

château

n, pl -teaux (-təʊ; -təʊz; French -to) or -teaus

1. (Architecture) a country house, castle, or manor house, esp in France

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in Quebec) the residence of a seigneur or (formerly) a governor

3. (Brewing) (in the name of a wine) estate or vineyard

[C18: from French, from Old French chastel, from Latin castellum fortress, castle]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

châ•teau

or cha•teau

(ʃæˈtoʊ)

n., pl. -teaus (-ˈtoʊz) -teaux (-ˈtoʊz, -ˈtoʊ)

1. a castle, fortress, or stately residence in France.

2. a large country house or estate, esp. in France.

3. a winegrower's estate, esp. in the Bordeaux region of France: often used as part of the name of a wine.

[1730–40; < French; Old French chastel < Latin castellum; see castle]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

chateau - an impressive country house (or castle) in France

country house - a house (usually large and impressive) on an estate in the country

Translations

castell

Château Schloss

дворец замок

zámok

château

chateau [ˈʃætəʊ] [châteaux] [ˈʃætəʊz] (pl) n → château m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

References in classic literature ?

The Chateau du Glandier is one of the oldest chateaux in the Ile de France, where so many building remains of the feudal period are still standing.

Such was the chateau in which science had taken refuge--a place seemingly designed to be the theatre of mysteries, terror, and death.

View in context

It was a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur the Marquis, with a large stone courtyard before it, and two stone sweeps of staircase meeting in a stone terrace before the principal door.

A supper-table was laid for two, in the third of the rooms; a round room, in one of the chateau's four extinguisher-topped towers.

View in context

The manufactory in which our family was fabricated was formerly known as the Chateau de la Rocheaimard, and had been the property of the Vicomte de la Rocheaimard previously to the revolution that overturned the throne of Louis XVI.

{Rocheaimard = both the Chateau and the family are fictitious; marechal du camp = general commanding a brigade; le bon vieux temps = the good old days; late King = Louis XVI, guillotined in 1793; en attendant=for the time being}

View in context

Along the roads around the chateau came a few grave personages mounted on mules or country nags.

In twenty horses for saddle and draught, which I have particularly at my chateau of Pierrefonds, and which are called - Bayard, Roland, Charlemagne, Pepin, Dunois, La Hire, Ogier, Samson, Milo, Nimrod, Urganda, Armida, Flastrade, Dalilah, Rebecca, Yolande, Finette, Grisette, Lisette, and Musette.

View in context

"Gentlemen," he said, "the wood that I am carting is his; I cut it in his copse and I am taking it to the chateau."

Soon, as the road turned, the Chateau de la Valliere appeared in view; then, a quarter of a mile beyond, a white house, encircled in sycamores, was visible at the farther end of a group of trees, which spring had powdered with a snow of flowers.

View in context

"Look round you then." Dantes rose and looked forward, when he saw rise within a hundred yards of him the black and frowning rock on which stands the Chateau d'If.

"The Chateau d'If?" cried he, "what are we going there for?" The gendarme smiled.