Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A building or part of a building that is exceptionally high in proportion to its width and length.
- n. A tall, slender structure used for observation, signaling, or pumping.
- n. One that conspicuously embodies strength, firmness, or another virtue.
- n. Computer Science A computer system whose components are arranged in a vertical stack and housed in a tall, narrow cabinet.
- v. To appear at or rise to a conspicuous height; loom: "There he stood, grown suddenly tall, towering above them” ( J.R.R. Tolkien). See Synonyms at rise.
- v. To fly directly upward before swooping or falling. Used of certain birds.
- v. To demonstrate great superiority; be preeminent: towers over other poets of the day.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In chem.: Same as distïlling-tube.
- n. A drying-apparatus of cylindrical shape: same as calcium-chlorid tube.
- n. In a railroad, a building in which are assembled the levers which control a system of switches and signals; a signalman's cabin. Signal-towers are usually two stories high, to give the signalman a view of the tracks and signals under his control. See switch-tower and signaling.
- n. In geology, a columnar protrusion of eruptive rock, such as the famous spine of Pelée on Martinique. See cumulovolcano.
- n. A building lofty in proportion to its lateral dimensions, of any form in plan, whether insulated or forming part of a church, castle, or other edifice. Towers have been erected from the earliest ages aa memorials, and for purposes of religion and defense. Among towers are included the minarets attached to Mohammedan mosques; the lofty bell-towers of Russia; the pillar or round towers of India, Ireland, and other places (see
round tower ); the square and octagonal towers at the west ends, crossings, etc., of churches; the massive keeps and gate-and wall-towers of castles and mansions; the peels of Scottish fortresses; the pagodas of India and China; the pharos, the campanile, and a great variety of similar buildings. Comparespire and steeple, and see cuts under bridge-tower, campanile castle, gabled, gate-tower, keep, lantern, pagoda, peel, and Rhenish. - n. In early and medieval warfare, a tall, movable wooden structure used in storming a fortified place. The height of the tower was such as to overtop the walls and other fortifications of the besieged place. Such towers were frequently combined with a batteringram, and thus served the double purpose of breaching the walls and giving protection to the besiegers.
- n. A citadel; a fortress; a place of defense or protection.
- n. In astrology, a mansion.
- n. In heraldry, a bearing representing a fortified tower with battlements and usually a gate with a portcullis.
- n. A high commode or headdress worn by women in the reigns of William III. and Anne. It was built up of pasteboard, ribbons, and lace; the lace and ribbons were disposed in alternate tiers, or the latter were formed into high stiffened bows, draped or not, according to taste, with a lace scarf or veil that streamed down each side of the pinnacle. Compare
fontange and commode. - n. A wig or the natural hair built up very high.
- To rise or extend far upward like a tower; rise high or aloft.
- To soar aloft, as a bird; specifically.
- to soar as a lark in the act of singing
- to rise straight up in the air, as a wounded bird (see towering, n.)
- to mount up, as a hawk to be able to swoop down on the quarry.
- To rise aloft into.
- n. An obsolete form of tour.
Wiktionary
- n. A structure, usually taller than it is wide, often used as a lookout, usually unsupported by guy-wires.
- n. figuratively Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.
- n. informal An interlocking tower.
- n. The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many Tarot decks, deemed an ill omen.
- v. To be very tall.
- v. obsolete, transitive To soar into.
- n. One who tows.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A mass of building standing alone and insulated, usually higher than its diameter, but when of great size not always of that proportion.
- n. A projection from a line of wall, as a fortification, for purposes of defense, as a flanker, either or the same height as the curtain wall or higher.
- n. A structure appended to a larger edifice for a special purpose, as for a belfry, and then usually high in proportion to its width and to the height of the rest of the edifice.
- n. A citadel; a fortress; hence, a defense.
- n. A headdress of a high or towerlike form, fashionable about the end of the seventeenth century and until 1715; also, any high headdress.
- n. obsolete High flight; elevation.
- v. To rise and overtop other objects; to be lofty or very high; hence, to soar.
- v. obsolete To soar into.
WordNet 3.0
- v. appear very large or occupy a commanding position
- n. anything that approximates the shape of a column or tower
- n. a powerful small boat designed to pull or push larger ships
- n. a structure taller than its diameter; can stand alone or be attached to a larger building
Etymologies
- tow + -er (Wiktionary)
- Middle English tur, tour, towr, from Old English torr and from Old French tur, both from Latin turris, probably from Greek tursis, turris. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“For example, consider the widely accepted sixteenth-century ˜tower argument™ against the Copernican claim that the earth moves: the earth can't be moving, because a stone released from a tower will fall ˜straight down™ to the foot of the tower, and not land some distance to the west as apparently required by Copernicus.”
“Before Gerald left the old tower (_my tower_) which was alone spared by the flames, and at which he had resided, though without his household, rather than quit”
“An ancient Roman tower, of which a few walls only now remain, on the route to Agen, was once a conspicuous object from the river: it was called _La Tourrasse_, ( "_enormous tower_" in _patois_), and many discoveries prove the importance of this place in the time of the”
Béarn and the Pyrenees A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre
“The central processing unit, or main tower, is 10.4 inches long, 3.9 inches wide, and 12.4 inches tall.”
“Developed and contracted by Brookfield Europe, the tower is a tricky engineering feat indeed, especially granted the gusty blasts of wind that construction crews had to deal with while raising it.”
The Strata: World's First Skyscraper With Built-In Wind Turbines | Inhabitat
“Firstly, the Shangri La tower is the tallest tower in Vancouver, at 64 floors.”
“Under the tower is a hall built between the years 1442 and 1446, during the Ming dynasty.”
“Despite the seemingly remote location, I get 4 bars on my cell phone when I'm standing at the top of the knoll, since a cell tower is located within line-of-sight, 10 miles away.”
“You're right, the Eiffel tower is not worth the time it takes, but if the weather is nice, you should go up the second highest building in Paris, the Tour Montparnasse.”
“Jack, do you have a link for the rumor that a tower is leaning?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tower’.
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Sweet tooth fairy dominoes
As originally suggested on sweet tooth fairy domino:
Each person adds one word trying to create a single, potentially infinite sweet tooth fairy (please look it up if you are not familiar wit...banana, boat, house, arrest, warrant, peace, sign, post, box, clever, Hans, device and 119 more...
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ITRE - energy - general terms
above-market cost, access charge, actual peak load ..., affiliate, affiliated power ..., after-market, aggregation, aggregator, Alternating Curre..., Ampere, ancillary services, annual effects and 453 more...
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steffany(grade 2)
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base, beach and 127 more...
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jackgrade2
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, atlas, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base and 127 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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Words the sound like their meaning
love, hate, butterfly, whisper, shout, boil, simmer, glide, kiss, wisp, hum, hammer and 30 more...
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Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue's Capitol
vestibule, foyer, mosaic, tessera, tower, elevator, observation deck, rotunda, guilloche, unicameral, legislature, supreme court and 81 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Scriptie: The Two Towers
dampen, treacherous, black gate, man-flesh, precious, elvish, dwarf, pursuit, quarry, hobbit, sprinters, horse lords and 236 more...
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Words with Method to their Madness
Patterned words! Any word that alternates vowels and consonants with no consonants next to each other, and no vowels next to each other. (And a letter limit of no less than 5)
eleven, every, vowel, lemon, alibi, hopes, limit, cures, caravan, emirate, united arab emirates, honorificabilitud... and 114 more...
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Buildings
castle, palace, temple, cathedral, church, fortress, tower, hut
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Setting the Scene: Dark and Dreary
Words that lend to the dark and dreary atmosphere of gothic literature.
dark, dreary, shroud, shrouded, veiled, skeleton, skeletal, dead, death, murky, gloomy, lugubrious and 274 more...
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American Gladiators
No, seriously.
malibu, lace, gemini, zap, nitro, sunny, blaze, bronco, gold, laser, jade, titan and 40 more...
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the castle and its surrounds
labyrinth, throne room, moat, dais, throne, scullery, court, tunnel, vault, mausoleum, crypt, dungeon and 43 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tower.

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