Definition
nounA tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
nounA tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure., A very tall open-framed structure on which communications devices are installed.
Sentence Examples
Do you know how high the television tower is?
The clock in the church tower struck nine.
She lives in a tower block on an estate in London.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tour, tur, tor, from Old English tūr, tor, torr ("tower; rock"; > English tor) and Old French tour, toer, tor; both from Latin turris (“a tower”), Ancient Greek τύρρις (túrrhis) (Hesychius), τύρσις (túrsis). Displaced native Middle English stepel for the general sense of "tower".
Compare Scots tour, towr, towre (“tower”), West Frisian toer (“tower”), Dutch toren (“tower”), German Turm (“tower”), Danish tårn (“tower”), Swedish torn (“tower”), Icelandic turn (“tower”), Welsh tŵr.
Doublet of tor, tourelle, and turret.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The valley is closed in at the lower end by the village, the church tower and a few roofs being visible through the trees; […]"
— 1878, Harold Lewis, The Church Rambler: A Series of Articles on the Churches..., page 440:
"[…] an isolated watch-tower still stands above the highway as it passes around the lowest ridge extending from the castle. Called Burj al-Sabi ('Tower of the Youth'), it protected the access to the castle's port […]"
— 2009, Ross Burns, The Monuments of Syria: A Guide, page 235:
"The clock tower above your apartment tolls, ringing twice. [...People] examine the bells with tuning fork and soundhorn, and scurry about with clipboard and blueprint, [but] they do not appear to be in the process of repairing or maintaining the bell-tower at all."
— 2011, Margaret Killjoy, What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower:
"He'd taken her to see […] The Towering Inferno […] She imagined the screen itself must be hot as the burning San Francisco tower. […] She expected the screen to go up in a sheath of flame as the Glass Tower had, expected sparks to leap from the aluminum into the surrounding hayfields, […]"
— 2022 January 25, Morgan Thomas, Manywhere: Stories, Macmillan + ORM, →ISBN:
"Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 61:3: