tower
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/
note: triphthong smoothing
ipa: [ˈtɑːə]
note: triphthong smoothing
ipa: [ˈtɑː]
ipa: /ˈtaʊɚ/
rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
homophone: (tar-tire-tower merger) tar
homophone: (tar-tire-tower merger) tire
Forms: form: towers
form: towre
Etymology: 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).
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.
Senses: glosses: A very tall iron-framed structure, usually painted red and white, on which microwave, radio, satellite, or other communication antennas are installed; mast.
glosses: A similarly framed structure with a platform or enclosed area on top, used as a lookout for spotting fires, plane crashes, fugitives, etc.
glosses: A water tower.
glosses: A control tower.
examples: text: The Sears Tower
glosses: Any very tall building or structure; skyscraper.
glosses: An item of various kinds, such as a computer case, that is higher than it is wide.
glosses: Ellipsis of interlocking tower.
examples: text: Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 61:3:
glosses: A strong refuge; a defence.
examples: text: Lay trains of amorous intrigues / In towers, and curls, and periwigs.
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
glosses: A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.
examples: text: Nigh in her sight
The Bird of Jove, stoopt from his aerie tour,
Two Birds of gayest plume before him drove.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: High flight; elevation.
glosses: The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.
topics: cartomancy
human-sciences
mysticism
philosophy
sciences
glosses: The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.
examples: text: A group of giraffes is called a tower.
ref: 2019 June 6, “A gaggle, a confusion and a conspiracy - bizarre animal collective group names”, in BBC:
glosses: A group of giraffes.
examples: text: Suppliers compete separately for the towers and service integrator and management contract, which assists the government in the integration and operation of its services.
ref: 2013, Great Britain, The Impact of Government's ICT Savings Initiatives, National Audit Office, page 28:
text: Service towers are significant IT functional areas, such as infrastructure, applications, security, etc., each possibly managed by a different service provider. The service integrator role is crucial for coordinating and integrating these service towers.
ref: 2023, Cybellium Ltd, Mastering ISO-IEC 20000-1, page 108:
topics: business
glosses: Each of a set of information technology concerns within a business, which are treated separately so that they can be handled by different providers.
topics: arts
crafts
glassblowing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: A metal stand used as a pivot to support a punty at a furnace.
Synonyms: donjon
Derived terms: bell tower
cat tower
chain tower
Charters Towers
church tower
clock tower
coaling tower
conning tower
control tower
cooling tower
dice tower
drop tower
drum tower
fire lookout tower
fire tower
fire tower stairway
flare tower
folly tower
Glover's tower
Glover tower
guardtower
hose tower
interlocking tower
ivory tower
lantern tower
Leaning Tower
leaning tower illusion
lift tower
lookout tower
Maiden Tower
Martello tower
mini tower
moonlight tower
moon tower
N-tower
observation tower
pencil tower
Pictish tower
power tower
prilling tower
radio tower
scaffolding tower
shot tower
siege tower
smoke tower
summer-tower
telecommunications tower
Texas tower
tower bastion
tower block
tower crane
tower defence
tower defense
Tower Hamlets
Tower Hill
tower house
tower ladder
towerman
tower mustard
tower of Babel
Tower of London
tower of silence
tower of strength
towers of Hanoi
transmission tower
wakeboard tower
wall tower
watch-tower
watchtower
water tower
winding tower
wind tower