[tou-er] 
| 1. | a building or structure high in proportion to its lateral dimensions, either isolated or forming part of a building. |
| 2. | such a structure used as or intended for a stronghold, fortress, prison, etc. |
| 3. | any of various fully enclosed fireproof housings for vertical communications, as staircases, between the stories of a building. |
| 4. | any structure, contrivance, or object that resembles or suggests a tower. |
| 5. | a tall, movable structure used in ancient and medieval warfare in storming a fortified place. |
| 6. | a tall, vertical case with accessible horizontal drive bays, designed to house a computer system standing on a desk or floor. Compare minitower. |
| 7. | Aviation. control tower. |
| 8. | to rise or extend far upward, as a tower; reach or stand high: The skyscraper towers above the city. |
| 9. | 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. |
| 11. | tower of strength, a person who can be relied on for support, aid, or comfort, esp. in times of difficulty. |
tower of strength
A dependable person on whom one can lean in time of trouble, as in After Dad died Grandma was a tower of strength for the whole family. This expression, first recorded in 1549, originally was used most often to refer to God and heaven, but Shakespeare had it differently in Richard III (5:3): "Besides, the King's name is a tower of strength."