tower

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  Tongham Church, with Wooden Tower for Bells
• WordNet 3.6
  • v tower appear very large or occupy a commanding position "The huge sculpture predominates over the fountain","Large shadows loomed on the canyon wall"
  • n tower a structure taller than its diameter; can stand alone or be attached to a larger building
  • n tower a powerful small boat designed to pull or push larger ships
  • n tower anything that approximates the shape of a column or tower "the test tube held a column of white powder","a tower of dust rose above the horizon","a thin pillar of smoke betrayed their campsite"
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Additional illustrations & photos:

Wolsey's Tower, Esher

A square tower with a door at the base

She would build a monument that would tower up to the skies

Bishop Hatto's Mouse Tower

BUILDING THE TOWER OF BABEL

CORDOBA. The Campanario Tower

SEVILLE. The Giralda Tower

TARRAGONA. The Archbishop's Tower

• Interesting fact: The Eiffel Tower weight is approximately 9441 tons
• • Tower A citadel; a fortress; hence, a defense. "Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy."
  • Tower A headdress of a high or towerlike form, fashionable about the end of the seventeenth century and until 1715; also, any high headdress. "Lay trains of amorous intrigues
    In towers , and curls, and periwigs."
  • Tower (Arch) A mass of building standing alone and insulated, usually higher than its diameter, but when of great size not always of that proportion.
  • Tower (Arch) 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.
  • Tower (Arch) 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; as, a church tower .
  • Tower High flight; elevation.
  • v. i Tower To rise and overtop other objects; to be lofty or very high; hence, to soar. "On the other side an high rock towered still.""My lord protector's hawks do tower so well."
  • v. t Tower To soar into.
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• Interesting fact: The amount of Kit Kat chocolate bars that are made at the York factory every 15 minutes are enough to outstack the Eiffel Tower
• • n tower In chem.: Same as distïlling-tube.
  • n tower A drying-apparatus of cylindrical shape: same as calcium-chlorid tube.
  • n tower 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 tower In geology, a columnar protrusion of eruptive rock, such as the famous spine of Pelée on Martinique. See cumulovolcano.
  • n tower 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. Compare spireand steeple, and see cuts under bridge-tower, campanile castle, gabled, gate-tower, keep, lantern, pagoda, peel, and Rhenish.
  • n tower 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 tower A citadel; a fortress; a place of defense or protection.
  • n tower In astrology, a mansion.
  • n tower In heraldry, a bearing representing a fortified tower with battlements and usually a gate with a portcullis.
  • n tower 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 tower A wig or the natural hair built up very high.
  • tower To rise or extend far upward like a tower; rise high or aloft.
  • tower To soar aloft, as a bird; specifically.
  • tower to soar as a lark in the act of singing
  • tower to rise straight up in the air, as a wounded bird (see towering, n.)
  • tower to mount up, as a hawk to be able to swoop down on the quarry.
  • tower To rise aloft into.
  • n tower An obsolete form of tour.
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• Interesting fact: Currently the world's tallest building is the Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Petronas Towers measures 1,483ft.
• • n Tower tow′ėr a lofty building, standing alone or forming part of another: a fortress:
  • v.i Tower to rise into the air: to be lofty
  • v.t Tower (Milt.) to rise aloft into
  • n Tower tow′ėr (her.) a bearing representing a tower with battlements, &c.: a high head-dress worn by women under William III. and Anne
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• Samuel Johnson

  

  “When I was as you are now, towering in the confidence of twenty-one, little did I suspect that I should be at forty-nine, what I now am.”
• Walt Whitman

  

  “O the joy of the strong-brawn'd fighter, towering in the arena in perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.”
• Alice Mackenzie Swaim

  

  “Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.”
• Christopher Marlowe

  

  “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ileum?”
• Abraham Lincoln

  

  “Towering genius disdains a beaten path.”
• Lao-Tzu

  

  “A tree trunk the size of a man grows from a blade as thin as a hair. A tower nine stories high is built from a small heap of earth.”

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