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tower

[tou-er]

noun

a building or structure high in proportion to its lateral dimensions, either isolated or forming part of a building.

such a structure used as or intended for a stronghold, fortress, prison, etc.

any of various fully enclosed fireproof housings for vertical communications, as staircases, between the stories of a building.

any structure, contrivance, or object that resembles or suggests a tower.

a tall, movable structure used in ancient and medieval warfare in storming a fortified place.

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a tall, vertical case with accessible horizontal drive bays, designed to house a computer system standing on a desk or floor. Compare minitower.

Aviation. control tower.

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verb (used without object)

to rise or extend far upward, as a tower; reach or stand high: The skyscraper towers above the city.

to rise above or surpass others: She towers above the other students.

10.

Falconry. (of a hawk) to rise straight into the air; to ring up.

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Tower is one of our favorite verbs.

So is absquatulate. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to flee; abscond:

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Idiom

11.

tower of strength, a person who can be relied on for support, aid, or comfort, especially in times of difficulty.

Origin:
before 900; (noun) Middle English tour, earlier tur, tor < Old French < Latin turris < Greek týrris, variant of týrsis tower; Middle English tor perhaps in some cases continuing Old English torr < Latin turris, as above; (v.) late Middle English touren, derivative of the noun

Related forms

tow·er·less, adjective

tow·er·like, adjective

Example Sentences

But the conference will also ponder a number of questions about the ivory tower itself.

Moody's, a credit-rating agency, recently moved into the office tower.

The triangular tower of light is easiest to spot around the spring and fall equinoxes.

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But the conference will also ponder a number of questions about the ivory tower itself.

Moody's, a credit-rating agency, recently moved into the office tower.

The triangular tower of light is easiest to spot around the spring and fall equinoxes.

But the money and technology required to unravel these genomes tower over those needed for the simple thale cress.

The frightening-looking mushroom cloud emanating from the cooling tower appeared more hazardous than it actually was.

I've wanted to grow potatoes in a tower for some time now.

Once the tower and suspension cables are in place and are holding up these segments, construction crews will remove the falsework.

Go back to the ivory tower and your imaginary world.

The sand heaps that tower immediately over us are star dunes.

The showy lantern tower of the tallest spire glowed with a nighttime torch when the king was in.

All zones should consider growing a tower of flowers.

Eazo's dark tower of power has a curious line of sigils carved up one side, giving this desktop a mysterious and alien look.

His legacy was to put the ivy-educated types into the hyperbolic ivory tower.

Sorry, but the author needs to climb down from that ivory tower he is obviously holed up in.

Overnight, it is said,the angels raised the bell and set it in the tower.

Make your own elegant tower for your favorite climbing plants.

The iron tower that bears his name took more than two years to build and used a variety of new construction techniques.

The heat in the water is removed by air flowing upward inside the cooling tower.

Not all of the money will stay inside of ivory tower walls.

That's one of the reasons the myth of the academic scientist in the ivory tower has always puzzled me.

From every corner of the city, its rose tower guides you when you've lost your way.

Okay, this one's my new favorite tower defense game.

At eight o'clock he comes down, and the tower stays empty until the next morning.

He was absolutely not shut away in some ivory tower somewhere.

Plans to enlarge the tennis-court-sized tower into a three-mile-long island with an airport and gambling complex fell through.

It is worth noting that news reports are saying that the tower told the plane to go the alternate.

But after watching a diver leap off the wooden tower reaching.

Turning the sun's heat into electricity--by concentrating it with thousands of mirrors onto a tower.

Try our step-by-step instructions for making a garden tower for all your edible plants.

The video box on the tower outside moves the same way.

Myanmar authorities offer the thin excuse that the tower will keep tourists from climbing on the monuments to get a view.

Encrypted calls are not protected from interception because the rogue tower can simply turn it off.

Minutes later, the smoldering south tower collapsed.

Ivory tower types should not be in charge of economies.

The tower features exhibits and viewpoints with telescopes.

Collect keys to enter the tower whilst crawling across the gameboard.

The company traces information from iPhones about tower masts and other transmitters to build mapping features on devices.

View through a portion of the broadcast antenna that fell from the top of the north tower.

But the real world eventually penetrates even the ivory tower.

To eat, one dismantles the tower of compartments and spreads each section on the table.

The traditional tower system is all about power and headroom.

Some water is lost through evaporation in the cooling tower and in waste discharge.

Almost every aspect of the built environment, from bridges to factories to tower blocks, and from roads to sea.

But he had them killed anyway, and a tower built of the victims' heads.

The illustration is no different to their use of cooling tower steam to depict smokestacks.

In theory, the new material could be placed into a tower in a building adjacent to a power plant, he said.

The waste heat in that case is up the stack and into a cooling tower or river, ocean, etc.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a person or thing that tows.

Origin:
1485–95; tow¹ + -er¹

noun

the fiber of flax, hemp, or jute prepared for spinning by scutching.

the shorter, less desirable flax fibers separated from line fibers in hackling.

synthetic filaments prior to spinning.

adjective

made of tow.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English; Old English tōw- (in tōwlīc pertaining to thread, tōwhūs spinning house); akin to Old Norse tō wool

Link To tower

Collins

World English Dictionary

tower (ˈtaʊə)

—n
1.	a tall, usually square or circular structure, sometimes part of a larger building and usually built for a specific purpose: a church tower; a control tower
2.	a place of defence or retreat
3.	a mobile structure used in medieval warfare to attack a castle, etc
4.	tower of strength a person who gives support, comfort, etc

—vb
5.	(intr) to be or rise like a tower; loom

[C12: from Old French tur, from Latin turris, from Greek]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

tow

"coarse, broken fibers of flax, hemp, etc.," late 14c., probably from O.E. tow- "spinning" (in towlic "fit for spinning"), perhaps cognate with Gothic taujan "to do, make," M.Du. touwen "to knit, weave." Tow-head, in ref. to tousled blond hair, is recorded from 1830.

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tower

O.E. torr, from L. turris "high structure" (cf. O.Fr. tor, 11c.; Sp., It. torre "tower"), possibly from a pre-I.E. Mediterranean language. Also borrowed separately 13c. as tour, from O.Fr. tur. The modern spelling first recorded in 1520s. Meaning "lofty pile or mass" is recorded from mid-14c. The verb

is attested from c.1400.

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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

tower

In addition to the idiom beginning with tower, also see ivory tower