Question

ravelin It was perhaps the obligation of facial nudity, coupled with Aziz's constant requests for her to move beneath him, that had driven [Naseem] to the barricades; and the domestic rules she established were a system of self-defence so impregnable that Aziz, after many fruitless attempts, had more or less given up trying to storm her many ravelins and bastions, leaving her, like a large smug spider, to rule her chosen domain.

Accepted Answer

n. An outside fortification outside the main wall and the moat or ditch. (It is a first defense location, built low and in a position where it will not be a threat to the main fortress if taken.) Midnight's Children, p. 48Image 1: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moers_1604.jpgImage 2: By Mark.murphy at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Kurpfalzbilder.de using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5971512

Word	ravelin
Definition	n. An outside fortification outside the main wall and the moat or ditch. (It is a first defense location, built low and in a position where it will not be a threat to the main fortress if taken.)
Sentence	It was perhaps the obligation of facial nudity, coupled with Aziz's constant requests for her to move beneath him, that had driven [Naseem] to the barricades; and the domestic rules she established were a system of self-defence so impregnable that Aziz, after many fruitless attempts, had more or less given up trying to storm her many ravelins and bastions, leaving her, like a large smug spider, to rule her chosen domain.
Source	Midnight's Children, p. 48 Image 1: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moers_1604.jpg Image 2: By Mark.murphy at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Kurpfalzbilder.de using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5971512

Main Image Ravelin N Fortification Wall Moat Ditch