tower

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See also: Tower

English[edit]

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 tower on Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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”). 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. See also tor.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tower (plural towers)

A nineteenth century water tower
  1. A very tall iron-framed structure, usually painted red and white, on which microwave, radio, satellite, or other communication antennas are installed; mast.
  2. A similarly framed structure with a platform or enclosed area on top, used as a lookout for spotting fires, plane crashes, fugitives, etc.
  3. A water tower.
  4. A control tower.
  5. Any very tall building or structure; skyscraper.
    The Sears Tower
  6. (figuratively) Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.
  7. (informal) An interlocking tower.
  8. (figuratively) A strong refuge; a defence.
    • Bible, Psalms lxi. 3
      Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
  9. (historical) A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.
    • (Can we date this quote by Hudibras and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      Lay trains of amorous intrigues / In towers, and curls, and periwigs.
  10. (obsolete) High flight; elevation.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
  11. The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.
  12. (cartomancy) The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from tower (noun)
Descendants[edit]
  • → German: Tower
  • → Hindi: टावर (ṭāvar)
  • → Japanese: タワー (tawā)
  • → Korean: 타워 (tawo)
  • → Kurdish: tawer
  • → Punjabi: ਟਾਵਰ (ṭāvr)
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English touren, torren, torrien, from Old English *torrian, from the noun (see above).

Verb[edit]

tower (third-person singular simple present towers, present participle towering, simple past and past participle towered)

  1. (intransitive) To be very tall.
    • 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers.
    The office block towered into the sky.
  2. (intransitive) To be high or lofty; to soar.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To soar into.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From tow +‎ -er.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tower (plural towers)

  1. One who tows.
    • 1933, Henry Sturmey, ‎H. Walter Staner, The Autocar
      But as the tower and towee reached the cross-roads again, another car, negligently driven, came round the corner, hit the Morris, and severed the tow rope, sending the unfortunate car back again into the shop window […]

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Verb[edit]

tower (present tower, present participle towerende, past participle getower)

  1. Alternative form of toor.
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