▪ I. tower, n.1
(taʊə(r), ˈtaʊə(r))
Forms: α. 1–2, 5–6 torr, 3–4 tor; β. 2–4 tur, 4 ture, (6 Sc. tuire); γ. 3–8 tour, 4–7 toure, 9 Sc. toor (tur); δ. 3–4 towr, 4–7 towre, (4 towyr, 6 touuer), 6– tower, (8–9 tow'r).
[In OE. torr masc., ad. L. turr-is; in late OE. and early ME. tūr, a 1300 written tour, a. OF. tor, tur (11th c.), F. tour (12th C.) = Pr. tor, Sp., Pg., It. torre:—L. turr-em (-im), acc. of turris fem. ‘tower’. It is doubtful whether the ME. tor(r was a survival of the OE. form, since OF. had also tor.
(But the Sc. examples in 1 α may perhaps belong to tore n.1, and quot. c 1400 in 4 to tor n. 2.)]
I. 1. A building lofty in proportion to the size of its base, either isolated, or forming part of a castle, church, or other edifice, or of the walls of a town.
Often with prefixed word expressing its nature or use, as bell-tower, church-tower, gong-tower, Martello tower, sea-tower, watch-tower, water-tower: see the first element. round tower: see round a. 15. tower of silence, the structure on which the Parsees expose their dead (for earlier examples of tower of silence: see silence n. 2 c).
In the Border counties of England and Scotland, ‘tower’ is often the name of a solitary high fenced house, a tower-house or ‘peel-house’ (peel n.1 4, 6), too small to be called a ‘castle’, e.g. Gilnockie, Goldilands, Smailholm Tower.
| α c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xi. 64 Ðin nosu is swelc swelce se torr on Libano ðæm munte. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 33 Faeder hiorodes seðe..dalf in ðær wintroᵹ & ᵹetimberde torr [Ags. Gosp. stypel]. [c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 42 Ane ciete thai se, With torris and turatis, teirfull to tell. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xvii, Gilt birneist torris, quhilk like to Phebus schone.] |
| β c 1100–1154 Tur [see 2]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 143 On ure ledene tur, quod interpretatur turris. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 661 To make a tur, wel heȝ & strong. |
| γ c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 13/406 A suyþe heiȝ tour of gold and seluer. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8303 He ȝeld him vp..Þre toures of þe cite, þat in is warde were. a 1300 Cursor M. 2230 (Cott.), I rede we bigin a laboure And do we wel and make a toure. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 21 Þe toure of Babilon. Ibid. ix. 35 A faire kirke with many kirnelles and toures. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 633 Adew, fair Snawdoun, with thy touris hie. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 35 Which they far off beheld from Trojan toures. |
| δ 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 451 And syne þe towris euerilkane And vallis gert he tummyll doune. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xi. 4 Comeþ, and make we to vs a citee and a towr, whose heiȝt fulli ateyne vnto heuene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 498/2 Towre, turris. 1526 Tindale Matt. xxi. 33 Bilt a tower, and lett it out to husbandmen. 1625 Bacon Ess., Building (Arb.) 550 Those Towers, are not to be of the Height of the Front. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 44 They cast to build A Citie & Towre, whose top may reach to Heav'n. 1742 Gray Eton 1 Ye distant spires, ye antique towers. 1750 ― Elegy 9 From yonder ivy-mantled tow'r The mopeing owl does to the moon complain. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 131 If it be square-topt, it is called a tower. 1849 Parker Goth. Archit. i. iii. (1874) 47 Early in the twelfth century occurred the fall of the tower of Winchester Cathedral. 1853 M. Arnold Scholar Gypsy iii, And the eye travels down to Oxford's towers. 1910 E. Younghusband Africa & Zanzibar xxii. 262 Vultures, within one hour of a body being placed in the tower of silence, tear off all flesh from the bones, then the hot tropical sun soon dries and bleaches the bones. |
2. a. Such a structure used as a stronghold, fortress, or prison, or built primarily for purposes of defence. (In this sense the name is sometimes extended to include the whole fortress or stronghold of which a ‘tower’ in sense 1 was the original nucleus.)
Thus the
Tower of London, in official designation
His Majesty's Tower, and in English History or contextually often simply
The Tower, is the entire fortress surrounding the original
White Tower of William Rufus.
| c 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 1097, Þurh þone weall þe hi worhton on butan þone tur [on Lundenne]. c 1122 Ibid. an. 1101, Se b[iscop] Rannulf..ut of þam ture on Lunden nihtes oðbærst. 1154 Ibid. an. 1140, Me læt hire dun on niht of þe tur [at Oxford] mid rapes. a 1225 Ancr. R. 228 Þe tur nis nout asailed, ne þe castel. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 50 Edrik was hanged on þe toure, for his trispas. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 449 Men myȝte wade bytwene Temsebrugge and þe toure of Londoun. a 1400–50 Alexander 1296 With trawynns and trebgetes þe towre to assaylle. 1503 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 5 In Februarie, died Queene Elizabeth at the Towre of London. 1557–75 Diurn. Occurr. (Bann. Cl.) 84 Thay war commandit to remayne in waird within the auld tuire quhairin my lord of Murray lugeit. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 89 That forthwith, You be conuaid to th' Tower a Prisoner. 1625 Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 36 A lioness hath whelped in the Tower. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ., Hotel at Paris, The Bastile is but another word for a tower. 1813 Scott Trierm. ii. xvii, She has fair Strath-Clyde and Reged wide, And Carlisle tower and town. Ibid. xvi, Carlisle town and tower. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. viii. II. 357 A warrant..directing the Lieutenant of the Tower to keep them [seven Bishops] in safe custody. |
b. In early religious use, often applied to heaven.
| a 1240 Lofsong in Cott. Hom. 207 In syon þe heie tur of heouene. a 1300 Cursor M. 418 (Cott.) He fordestend tuin creature To serue him in þat hali ture. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 965 Þou may not enter with-inne hys tor. |
3. fig. (
Cf. ‘stronghold’, etc.) Freq. in
tower of strength. See also
ivory tower.
| 13.. St. Ambrosius 793 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 20/2 Ambrose..him self was wal and tour, To kepe holi⁓chirches honour. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. Met. iii. 96 (Camb. MS.) For with inne is Ihydd the strengthe and vigor of men in the secre toure of hir hertes. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 407/1 Thenne she began strongely to assayle the toure of hys conscience. 1549 Bk. Common Prayer fol. xvv, O lorde..Bee vnto them a tower of strength. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Ps. cxliv. 2 He is my goodnes and my fortres, my tower and my deliuerer. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III v. iii. 12 Besides, the King's name is a Tower of strength. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §11 As if there were sought in knowledge..a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 7 O fall'n at length that tower of strength. 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. II. xxii. 224 But, my dear Cynthia,—how soon Roger will be back,—a tower of strength. 1909 G. K. Chesterton Orthodoxy iii. 55 The whole modern world is at war with reason, and the tower already reels. 1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes ii. iii. 394 She's been such a tower of strength all this time. 1970 New English Bible Prov. xviii. 10 The name of the Lord is a tower of strength, where the righteous may run for refuge. 1981 P. H. Johnson Bonfire ii. i. 84 He put his arms round Agnes... She thought of him as a ‘tower of strength’. |
4. transf. A lofty pile or material mass.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter cl. 4 Orgyns þat is made as a toure of sere whistils. [c 1400 Destr. Troy 1983 A tempest hom toke on þe torres hegh [of waves].] 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xxvii. 202 There is a place..where are seene as it were two towers or pikes of a very high elevated rocke, rising out of the middest of the sea. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge iv, Sundry towers of buttered Yorkshire cake. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xli, The Grand Tower, one of the wonders of the Mississippi. It is a stupendous pile of rocks, of a conical form. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. iii, She had a tower of lace on her head, under which was a bush of black curls. (Cf. 6 b.) |
5. In other transferred uses:
a. In ancient and mediæval warfare, a tall movable structure, used in storming a fortified place.
Cf. summer castle.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 498/2 Towre, made oonly of tymbyr, fala. 1483 Cath. Angl. 391/1 A Towre of a tree, fala. 1552 Huloet, Towre made of tymbre, fala. 1665 Manley Grotius's Low C. Warres 287 The Besiegers erected a great Tower of Wood, after the manner of Antiquity. |
† b. The ‘castle’ borne on the back of an elephant.
Obs.| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 15 Vpon the pack-saddels, they haue on euery side a little house or towre. [margin] The Elephants towre. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome, Alexander ii. 489 They had 700 Elephants, all loaden with Towers. 1762 [see tower-backed in 10]. c 1820 [implied in towered 1]. |
c. The gun-turret on an ironclad.
| 1889 Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. xiv. 143 The plan of placing the guns in revolving towers or turrets. |
d. A railway signal-box.
U.S.| 1900 Everybody's Mag. II. 442/2 The tower from which the traffic entering and leaving the Grand Central Station in New York city is directed, is located just outside the station itself. 1910 H. A. Franck Vagabond Journey 328 A man in the neighbouring tower opened the block, and the diminutive freight screamed by us. 1946 [see tower house, sense 10 a below]. |
e. = pylon 4.
| 1930 Engineering 9 May 603/2 There are four standard types of tower for the single-circuit lines. 1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist iv. 42 The car lamps picked up out of vacancy the marching towers of the power lines. 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 72 The electric pylons, or towers, as they are called here, stalk up and down great rides cut through the trees, carrying the cable in their upflung arms. |
f. = control tower s.v. control n. 5. Also
ellipt.;
transf., the flight-control staff.
| 1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose i. 7 I'll come up to the Tower when we land. 1971 A. Diment Think Inc. xii. 201 Captain Roberts..asked tower, politely, for permission to taxi. 1977 Time 11 Apr. 23/2 The tower ordered KLM to taxi the full length of the runway. |
g. ellipt. = tower block, sense 10 e below.
| 1970 Times 6 July 6/5 The towers, cheerless in their four tones of dun-colour. 1975 M. Bradbury History Man i. 11 Higher on the hill grow the new concrete towers. |
6. Applied to various things having the form, figure, or appearance of a tower, or likened to one.
† a. Chess. The Castle or Rook.
Obs.| 1562 J. Rowbotham Play Cheasts A v, Of the Rooke or Towre. The Towre is named amongest the Spaniards, Portingales, and Italians, Rocho. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Ep. Wks. (1711) 146 For the towers or castles named rooks, these are the walled towns, which serve for a refuge for the conservation of the kingdom. |
b. A very high head-dress worn by women in the reigns of William III and Anne. It was built up in the form of a tower of pasteboard, muslin, lace, and ribbons.
Cf. tour n. 4.
Hist.| c 1612 Sylvester Lacrymae Lacrym. 159 Stript, from Top to Toe, Of giddie Gaudes, Top-gallant Tires and Towers. 1693 Dryden Juvenal vi. 646 With Curls on Curls, they build her Head before, And mount it with a Formidable Tow'r. [Note] This dressing up the Head so high, which we call a Tow'r, was an Ancient way amongst the Romans. 1706, 1894 [? implied in towered 1, towering vbl. n.]. [1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. xv, My Lady of Chelsea in her highest tour, my Lady Viscountess out of black.] |
c. Applied to various technical structures and contrivances, now only descriptively: see
quots. and
cf. shot-tower.
| 1662 Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass 243 The Leer (made by Agricola, the third furnace, to anneal and cool the vessels..) comprehends two parts, the tower and leer. Ibid. 365 Tower is the Iron on which they rest their Pontee when they scald the Glass. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xx. (Roxb.) 228 The Philosophers Tower..is a kind of Tower furnace... The Maner of the Tower is four square. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Furnace. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem. (1862) III. 649 In many works the process of washing with acid is superseded by..a scrubber, consisting of a tower, the interior of which is filled with small coke resting upon perforated shelves. 1885 Athenæum 21 Feb. 252/1 A concise account of the treatment of iron ores for the blast furnace, a careful examination of the peculiar action of that vast metallurgical tower in all its modified forms. |
7. Astrol. = house n.1 8,
mansion n. 5 a.
| c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 113 Now fleeth Venus in to cilenios toure. 1911 Ramsay in Expositor Mar. 224 The twelve zodiacal stations of the sun were called towers by the Greek astrologers. |
II. 8. a. Lofty flight; soaring. (
Cf. tower v. 3.)
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans D iv, Ther is an Hoby. And that hauke is for a yong man. And theys be hawkes of the toure: and ben both Ilurid to be calde and reclaymed. c 1518 Skelton Magnyf. ii. xv. 926 Torde! man, it is an hawke of the towre. 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 53 She [the hobby] is of the number of those hawkes that are hye fleeing and towre hawkes. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 185 Nigh in her sight The Bird of Jove, stoopt from his aerie tour, Two Birds of gayest plume before him drove. |
b. The vertical ascent of a wounded bird.
| 1890 Pall Mall G. 18 Jan. 2/3 A single goose..bravely struggles onwards, and finally, after a perfectly executed ‘tower’, falls dead not far from the boat. 1895 J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt (1899) 82 The outlined figures are intended to represent the tower and drop of a single bird. |
III. 9. Phrases.
a. tower and town (also
town and tower), an alliterative phrase for the inhabited places of a country or region generally.
† b. towers in the air, visionary projects, ‘castles in the air’ (see
castle n. 11).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12983 (Cott.) Al þis werld, bath tur and tun. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) lxxii, Thenne was he lord of toure and towne. 1599 Broughton's Let. ii. 9 Your humours building towers in the ayre,..faine a sounding in your eares. 1813 [see 2]. 1842 Wordsw. Poet's Dream viii, O'er town and tower we flew, and fields in May's fresh verdure drest. 1870 Tennyson Flower iv, Thieves..Sow'd it far and wide By every town and tower. |
IV. 10. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib. ‘of or belonging to a or the tower’, as
tower-bell,
tower-clock,
tower-gate,
tower-gun,
tower-head,
tower-pier,
tower-room,
tower-stair,
tower-top,
tower-ward,
tower-wharf; ‘that is, consists of, has, or contains a tower’, as
tower-distillatory,
tower-furnace,
tower-gateway,
tower-house,
tower-keep,
tower mill,
tower-porch,
tower silo,
tower-steeple;
b. objective, as
tower-keeper,
tower-transporter;
tower-bearing,
tower-razing,
tower-supporting,
tower-tearing adjs.;
c. instrumental, locative, etc., as
tower-backed,
tower-capped,
tower-crested,
tower-crowned,
tower-encircled,
tower-flanked,
tower-full,
tower-studded adjs.;
d. similative, etc., as
tower-high,
tower-like,
tower-shaped adjs.;
tower-wise adv. e. Special
Combs.:
tower apartment, an apartment in a tower block, a high-rise flat;
tower-ball, a game for children;
tower block, a tall block of flats, a high-rise building, a skyscraper;
tower bolt = barrel bolt s.v. barrel n. 11;
tower crane (see
quot. 1940);
tower-cress, the cruciferous plant
Arabis Turrita; sometimes applied to
tower mustard,
Turritis glabra;
† tower-fellow, a fellow prisoner in the Tower;
tower-fellowship, a political division of citizens in the states of ancient Greece;
tower hill, a hill near or on which a tower is built;
spec. (with caps.) the rising ground by the Tower of London;
tower karst Geomorphol. [
tr. G.
turmkarst (H. von Wissmann 1954, in
Erdkunde VIII. 122/1)], a type of karst characterized by isolated steep-sided hills;
tower-light, a window or hole in a tower;
towerman, one who works in a tower;
spec. (
U.S.) (
a) a railway signalman; (
b) a look-out for forest fires;
Tower musket Hist., a tower-proof musket;
tower-proof a., proved or tested in the arsenal at the Tower of London; also
allusively;
tower-ring, a finger-ring bearing an image of a tower;
tower-shell = turret-shell s.v. turret n.1 5;
tower skull = oxycephaly s.v. oxy- 1;
tower-stamp, the official stamp or mark on gold and silver articles; hall-mark;
† towers treacle = tower mustard;
tower-wagon, a wagon with a structure which can be raised and lowered to serve as a platform for repairing overhead wires, etc.;
† tower-window, each of the turreted lights at the head of a late Gothic or Perpendicular window;
tower-work, masonry built in the form of towers. Also
tower mustard,
pound,
weight, -wort.
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schisme 437 The *Towr-back't Camel, that..on his bunch could have transported yerst Neer a whole Household. 1762 Judas Macc. iii. 18 The huge Tow'r-back'd Elephants. |
| 1555 Eden Decades 189 The *towrebearynge shoulders of Elephantes. |
| 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 7 b, A sound, as if the *tower bell of Saint Iohns Colledge in the famous Vniuersitie of Cambridge had beene rung. |
| 1966 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 127 *Tower blocks can be accused of leading to eardrum degeneration, owing to constant use of high-speed elevators. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 82 The jack-block building in Coventry, a fifteen- or sixteen-storey tower block built by a new technique of jacking each storey up after it has been erected. 1982 Listener 23/30 Dec. 58/4 Most American film crews refuse to take rooms higher than the second floor of towerblock hotels since this picture. |
| 1911 *Tower bolt [see barrel bolt s.v. barrel n. 11]. |
| 1816 Byron Siege Cor. i, Yon *tower-capt Acropolis. |
| 1895 A. J. Evans in Folk-Lore Mar. 44 As soon as the *tower-clock strikes twelve. |
| 1906 Electr. World XLVII. 743 An illustrated description of an electrically-operated rotating *tower crane for the Dublin docks. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 856/1 Tower crane, a rotatable cantilever pivoted to the top of a steelwork tower, either fixed or carried on rails. 1967 Listener 27 July 111/1 A tower crane on our university building site. |
| a 1835 Mrs. Hemans Abencerrage ii. 39 *Tower-crested rocks. |
| 1771 Gentl. Mag. Nov. 490/1 At the sight Of distant Bremen's *tower-crown'd height. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xx. (Roxb.) 229 This is the form of another *Tower distillatory, but four square in the foundation with a round tower in the midst. |
| 1896 Spectator 31 Oct. 586/1 There are other tribes of *tower-dwelling birds. |
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 114 Nurse of art, the city reared..her *tower-encircled head. |
| 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xlv. 457 He and his *Tower-fellows, hearing the bill..should pass. |
| 1847 Grote Greece ii. xiii. III. 247 The symmories or *tower-fellowships of Teôs seem to be analogous to the phratries of ancient Athens. |
| 1799 H. Gurney Cupid & Psyche viii. (1800) 18 A vast and *tower-flank'd palace stood. |
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iii. Colonies 424 Th' ingenious, *Towr-full, and Law-loving Soil. 1688 *Tower furnace [see sense 6 c]. |
| a 1832 Scott Eve St. John xxxii, He oped the *tower-gate And he mounted the narrow stair. |
| 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 285 Wykeham's *tower-gateway at New College is in three floors. |
| 1719 D'Urfey Pills III. 2 It seiz'd on the *Tow'r Guns. 1767 Wesley Jrnl. 5 Nov., I was surprised..to hear the Tower-guns so plain at above fifty miles distance. |
| 1539 in Archæologia XI. 437 Uppon the same *towre hed a saker of brasse of Scottyshe makinge. |
| c 1480 J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 5 To the *Towre Hylle. 1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 372/2 The Gardyns upon the Towre hill. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 98/1 The chief place of execution was outside the walls [of the Tower of London] on the neighbouring Tower Hill. |
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 100 A litte *Tower-house, with two or three Rooms. 1797 Statist. Acc. Scot. XIX. 602 Tower houses are met with in a ruinous condition. 1946 E. B. Thompson Amer. Daughter 124 We climbed the little ladder to the railroad tower house. |
| 1954 Erdkunde VIII. 122/1 Of the various formations of kegelkarst, two widely differ in appearance from one another... 2. A river plain, dotted with groups or swarms of limestone towers or castles... This is the *tower karst. 1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 83/2 Hills with slopes of 70° and more occur, the relief being called tower karst. |
| 1897 Windle Life in Early Brit. ix. 176 The erection of the rectangular *tower keep, which the Norman used when he was building on a perfectly new site. |
| 1885 H. C. McCook Tenants Old Farm 135 Easy victims to the vigilant *tower-keeper. |
| 1848 Rickman Archit. (ed. 5) 220 ‘Sound-holes’..seems not so appropriate as air-holes or *tower-lights. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Towrelyke, turreus. 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iv. xix. 309 Elephants..brought into the Battell with their tower-like carriages. 1729 Savage Wanderer iv. 119 He sees yon Tow'r-like Ship the Waves divide. 1893 Scribner's Mag. June 718/1 The tower-like building of stone and stucco, octagonal in form, had a forbidding air. |
| 1895 *Tower man [see roundhouse n. 4]. 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 18 Oct. 7/1 Towermen..serve as the eyes of the fire fighters. 1951 Towerman [see goldfish b]. |
| 1888 *Tower mill [see smockmill]. 1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Dec. 891/1 Even in brick or stone tower-mills the sweeps may be caught in the rear..by a suddenly veering storm. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Dec. 3/1 The viewer is taken inside one of the last remaining working tower mills. |
| 1832 A. Earle Narr. Residence in N.Z. (1966) 170 He had with him a beautiful double-barrelled gun, and a very good *Tower musket. 1947 Tower musket [see dane gun]. |
| 1880 Archæol. Cantiana XIII. 26 Lanfranc's *tower-piers, and a few feet of his crypt walls undoubtedly remain. |
| 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 356 Access to the hall is provided through a *tower-porch. |
| 1673 Phil. Trans. VIII. 6072 Powder proved *Tower-proof is a fifth part stronger than any Dutch powder. 1805 T. Lindley Voy. Brazil 252 Brasil being supplied by the mother country with British tower-proof musquets. 1858 Hogg Life Shelley II. 365 Blessed amongst women,..a tower-proof, fire-proof, bomb-proof blue. |
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Tropheis 401 'Twas the Breach of a *Tower-razing Ram. |
| 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring 298 In the same collection is a Jewish ‘*tower’ betrothal ring. Ibid., Another betrothal ring..called ‘temple’ or ‘tower’ from the figure of the sacred temple placed on the summit. |
| 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 331 The President is to have certain *tower-rooms. |
| 1897 Jacob Primmer in Rome (1903) 319 In this *tower-shaped tomb. |
| 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *Tower-shell. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. xii. 300 One fossil tower-shell stands nearly five feet high. 1959 A. C. Hardy Open Sea II. v. 118 The tall slender Turritella, or tower-shell, is another common gastropod burrowing just below the surface. |
| 1800 Hull Advertiser 17 May 3/3 A pamphlet, just published, price a good *Tower Shilling. |
| 1939 J. R. McCalmont Silo Types & Construction 2 Silos may be divided roughly into above-ground—*tower or upright—and the below-ground—pit or trench—silo, either of which may be built for temporary or continued use. 1982 Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 9/3 Tower silos, standing as they do up to some 60 feet high and painted in various..colours are not particularly attractive features of our rural areas. |
| 1905 Trans. Ophthalm. Soc. XXV. 364 (heading) Oxycephaly or ‘*tower skull’. 1918 J. H. Parsons Dis. Eye (ed. 3) xxxiii. 620 Bilateral proptosis occurs in exophthalmic goître..as a result of diminished orbital volume in oxycephaly or ‘tower-skull’ and leontiasis ossea. 1969 Edington & Gilles Path. in Tropics x. 379 Patients with sickle-cell anaemia tend to have a certain type of habitus, with tower-skull, parietal bossing, and long slender, limbs. |
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxii, The Batavier steamboat left the *Tower stairs laden with a goodly company of English fugitives. |
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 120 He knows if he sets his mark, (the *Tower-stamp of his credit) on any bad wares, he sets a deeper brand on his own conscience. 1845 Clough Silver Wedding xii, That wariest glance would here Faith, Hope and Love, the true Tower-stamp discern. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 216 A new Church with..an high spire besides the *Toure steeple. Ibid. 468, I saw the towre steeple of a small suppressed Friery. |
| Ibid. 290 The *tour-supporting bankes, at Windsore. |
| 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue iii. 125 *Tower-tearing Mars, Bellona thirsting-bloud. |
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop lv, One of these..climbed with her to the *tower-top. |
| 1903 Daily Chron. 25 June 4/5 An opportunity of witnessing the coaling of the flagship Majestic by the new Temperley *tower transporter. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xxii. §3. 213 (heading) Towers Mustarde..*Towers Treacle groweth in the west part of Englande vpon dunghils and such like places. |
| 1911 Daily News 20 Apr. 1 A collapsible structure similar to a *tower wagon, was blown over by the wind. |
| c 1450 Brut 423 The persone of the Toure and this ffrere Randulf fillen in debate and stryffe withynne the *Toure ward. |
| Ibid. 431 Iohn Mortymere, knyght, brake pryson oute of the Toure of London, and was take ayen vpon the *Toure-wharf. |
| 1593 Rites of Durham (Surtees) 43 In this wyndowe, above all, are six little glasened *towre wyndowes. |
| 1581 A. Hall Iliad vii. 127 His huge and waightie targe, Which *towerwise so stoode aloft. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 94 A little fort..built tower⁓wise. |
| 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxv. (1663) 93 The top of the Platform was bordered with the same stone, cut into great *Tower-work. |
Add:
[5.] h. An arrangement of scaffolding erected in a vertical column; a unit of scaffolding in this shape.
| 1970 New Yorker 1 Aug. 23/1 He tried several times to get people to climb down from the stage and from the light towers... ‘Please get off the towers.’ No one got off the towers. 1978 Telephone Directory: Yellow Pages: Preston Area 303 (Advt.), Mobile alloy towers (scaffolding). 1983 J. Gardner Elephants in Attic xii. 112 A scene-painter's tower, the floor of which is raised or lowered to the painter's need. |
▪ II. tower, n.2 (
ˈtəʊə(r))
Also 5
Sc. towar.
[f. tow v.1 + -er1.] One who tows or draws with a rope;
esp. one who tows a boat on a river or canal.
(In
quots. 1494 the sense is uncertain;
cf. quot. 1494 in
tow v.
1 1, which refers to the same transaction.)
| [1494 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 248 For the drawyne of viij treis fra the Sallache to the bote, and to a towar to gid thame,..vs. iiij d. Ibid., Item, gyffyne tyll a towar, for to helpe to bryng doune the cariour fra Lochlomond,..ij s.] 1611 Cotgr., Tireur, a drawer..tugger, tower. 1795 Anderson Brit. Emb. China vi. 80 These pieces of wood..rest upon their breasts, and by leaning against them the towers increase the power of their exertions. 1883 M. H. Hayes Ind. Racing Remin. 231 The broken ground over which these native towers have to travel. 1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 155 My tow-ers are young and my tow-ers are fair: The one is Eleven, the other Nineteen, The merriest maidens that ever were seen. 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat ix, A couple of towers walking briskly along. |
▪ III. ˈtower, n.3 Sc. [f. tow n.2 + -er1.] A rope-maker, a roper.
| 15.. Aberdeen Regr. (MS.) XXVIII. (Jam.), Towar. |
▪ IV. tower, n.4 see
tow v.
4▪ V. tower, v. (
taʊə(r),
ˈtaʊə(r))
Forms: see the
n. [f. tower n.1] I. 1. a. intr. To rise or extend to a great height like a tower; to rise aloft, stand high.
(In
quot. c 1400 the sense of
torret is very uncertain.)
| [c 1400 Destr. Troy 1637 Toures full tore torret aboue, Þat were of heght so hoge, as I here fynde.] 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 31 O wights most blessed, whose wals be thus happelye touring. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 30 On th' other side an high rocke toured still. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 581 Dudley Castle towreth up upon an hill. 1690 C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 268 Like pillars of smoke towering upward. 1715–20 Pope Iliad ii. 565 The king of kings, majestically tall, Tow'rs o'er his armies, and outshines them all. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxvii. (1849) 300 Magnificent trees tower to the height of 150 or 200 feet above the banana, the bamboo. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola vi, Over every fastness..there towers some huge Frankish fortress. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche, March xxiv, She saw the evening light In shifting colour to the zenith tower. |
b. fig. Usually
const. above.
| 1776 Boswell 11 Apr., in Johnson, Does not Gray's poetry, sir, tower above the common mark? 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 12 He [Shakespeare] towered above his fellows. 1822 ― Table-t. Ser. ii. iii. (1869) 66 Her voice towered above the whole confused noise of the orchestra. 1869 Trollope He Knew xxviii, When she first read the letter..she towered in her passion. |
2. trans. To raise or uplift to a height; to exalt.
| 1596 Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxx. (1612) 295 English Poets Many, Of which are some..that towre their wits too hie. 1645 Rutherford Trial & Tri. Faith (1845) 299 The Soul is lifted up and towered like a high building. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 75 Where hills tower'd high their crowns. 1849 W. S. Mayo Kaloolah vi. (1851) 26 Gigantic trees, which towered their lofty heads to the clouds. |
3. intr. a. Hawking. To mount up, as a hawk, so as to be able to swoop down on the quarry:
cf. tower n.1 8. Also
fig.| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. i. 10 My Lord Protectours Hawkes do towre so well. 1605 ― Macb. ii. iv. 12 A Faulcon towring in her pride of place. 1616 B. Jonson Epigr. i. lxxxv, Shee doth instruct men by her gallant flight, That they to knowledge so should toure upright And never stoope, but to strike ignorance. 1878 M. A. Brown Nadeschda 27 Loose thy hawk and let it tower. |
b. To soar aloft, as a bird.
| 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xlvii. (1739) 77 The Eagle had cast its Feathers, and could towre no more. a 1682 H. Blunt Poem addr. to Garth 14 in Dispens. (1709) Pref., So the Young Eagle that his Force would try, Faces the Sun, and tow'rs it to the Sky. 1728 Ramsay Lure 93 See, see! he like a lavrock tours. 1817–18 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 211 The pheasant does not tower, but darts through the trees. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche, Sept. xvi, He flasht his pens, and sweeping widely round Tower'd to air. |
c. To rise vertically, as a bird when wounded.
| 1799 Coleridge Notebks. (1957) I. entry 564 Partridges towering after being shot is a certain Proof that they are mortaly wounded. 1812 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 39 With the exception of one which towered, all my birds fell dead to the gun. 1887 [see towering vbl. n.]. |
† 4. fig. To rise on high, to soar.
Obs.| 1597 Deloney Canaans Calam. (1912) 422 Their mounting minds that towred past their strength. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 113 S. John..towred aloft into the highest mysteries of Divinity. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §8, I have seen a Grammarian towr and plume himself over a single line in Horace. 1748 Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 103 Still to new heights his restless wishes tower. |
† 5. trans. To soar aloft in or into; to rise to.
| 1604 Drayton Owle 149 By Night I towre the Heauen, deuoy'd of feare. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems (1790) 283 He towers those golden bounds He did to sun bequeath. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 441 Yet oft they quit The Dank, and rising on stiff Pennons, towre The mid Aereal Skie. |
† II. 6. trans. To furnish with a tower or towers.
| c 1440 [see towering vbl. n.]. 1450 in Charters, etc. Edinb. (1871) 71 To..wall, toure, turate, and uther wais to strengthen oure foresaid Burgh. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 59 This Gardeyn was towred at euery corner. |