Open English Wordnet
(n)trace italienne, star-shaped fortress, star fort, bastion fort, star fortressa fortification composed of many projecting triangular bastions (usually from five to eight), specifically designed to cover each other; first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy.“Star forts were employed by Michelangelo in the defensive earthworks of Florence, and refined in the sixteenth century by Baldassare Peruzzi and Scamozzi.”