tower
/ˈtaʊə
/noun
1A tall narrow building, either free-standing or forming part of a building such as a church or castle: a church tower the south-west tower is a wonderful example of late gothic...
- Between them run narrow alleys affording breathtaking views over the roofscape and church towers of central Stockholm.
- Higher buildings like church towers only have two traversable levels and much of the land is devoid of any low brush vegetation.
- Churches, with high towers on buildings right in the centre of their community, are seen as ideal locations for the next generation of communication masts.
Synonyms
steeple, spire;
column, pillar, obelisk
1.1 [with modifier] A tall structure that houses machinery, operators, etc. a control tower...
- The armed separatist group placed bombs on two high-tension electricity towers run by grid operator Red Electrica.
- Due to a hill between the television tower and my house, I rely on Austar for TV reception.
- Operators of wind towers will tend to want to build them in mountainous areas with high winds and along shorelines and thereby ruin some beautiful scenic vistas.
1.2 [with modifier] A tall structure used as a receptacle or for storage: a CD tower...
- Police searched his house on March 4 this year and a computer tower and storage media were found containing 95 images in total.
- Her CD collection was arranged alphabetically in a tall CD tower, and she always kept her favorite ones of the moment on the top.
- The tall grain tower was hardly anywhere near civilization.
1.3A tall pile or mass of something: a titanic tower of garbage...
- I'd gone to interview her in 1994 and found a copy of it in a second-hand bookstore in Exmouth, crawling around on the floor to explore the towers of books haphazardly piled there.
- There are mini backlit towers of wine bottles stacked behind the bar, and each place is set with a spotless wineglass and crisp, white linens.
- Invite the children to help you make a tower with the books and talk about favorite stories as you take the books out of the box.
1.4 (the Tower) see Tower of London.
verb [no object]
1Rise to or reach a great height: he seemed to tower over everyone else...
- The group objected to the development's design and height, stating it would tower over the neighbourhood.
- Tony towered over her, like he did while on the horse, like Fellini's women tower over him.
- You wish you were wearing the boots with three-inch heels instead of the boots with one-inch heels so you could tower over him even more than you already do.
Synonyms
soar, rise, loom, ascend, mount, rear, reach high, stand high;
overshadow, overlook, overhang, hang over, dominate
2(Of a bird) soar up to a great height, especially (of a falcon) so as to be able to swoop down on the quarry.The big ticket item was a US Air Force B1 Bomber, which towered over the surrounding displays like a massive bird of prey.
Phrases
tower of strength
Derivatives
towery
Origin
Old English torr, reinforced in Middle English by Old French tour, from Latin turris, from Greek.
This comes ultimately from Greek via Latin and French tour. The phrase tower of strength is from a use in the Book of Common Prayer: ‘O Lord…be unto them a tower of strength’ and originally meant ‘a strong tower’. A turret (Middle English), in Old French tourete, is a little tower.