tower : Idioms & Phrases

• noun a tower that supports or shelters a bell
  

WordNet

• noun the tower of a church
  

WordNet

• noun a tower with a large clock visible high up on an outside face
  

WordNet

• noun a tower in Toronto; 1815 feet tall for broadcasting widely
  

WordNet

• noun an armored pilothouse on a warship
  
• noun a raised bridge on a submarine; often used for entering and exiting
  

WordNet

Con"ning tow"er noun

Definitions

1. The shotproof pilot house of a war vessel.

Webster 1913

• noun a tower with an elevated workspace enclosed in glass for the visual observation of aircraft around an airport
  

WordNet

• noun a cooling system used in industry to cool hot water (by partial evaporation) before reusing it as a coolant
  

WordNet

• noun a wrought iron tower 300 meters high that was constructed in Paris in 1889; for many years it was the tallest man-made structure
  

WordNet

• noun a watchtower where a lookout is posted to watch for fires
  

WordNet

• (Chem.), a large tower or chamber used in the sulphuric acid process, to absorb (by means of concentrated acid) the spent nitrous fumes that they may be returned to the Glover's tower to be reemployed. See Sulphuric acid, under Sulphuric, and Glover's tower, below.

Webster 1913

• (Chem.), a large tower or chamber used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, to condense the crude acid and to deliver concentrated acid charged with nitrous fumes. These fumes, as a catalytic, effect the conversion of sulphurous to sulphuric acid. See Sulphuric acid, under Sulphuric, and Gay Lussac's tower, above.

Webster 1913

• noun a state of mind that is discussed as if it were a place
  
  • he lived in the ivory tower of speculation
  • they viewed universities as ivory towers

WordNet

• noun a tall round marble campanile in Pisa that is not perpendicular; construction was begun in 1174
  Leaning Tower.
  

WordNet

• noun a tall round marble campanile in Pisa that is not perpendicular; construction was begun in 1174
  Leaning Tower.
  

WordNet

• the tower most capable of resisting an enemy.

Webster 1913

• noun a circular masonry fort for coastal defence
  

WordNet

Mar*tel"lo tow`er

Etymology

It. martello hammer. The name was orig. given to towers erected on the coasts of Sicily and Sardinia for protection against the pirates in the time of Charles the Fifth, which prob. orig. contained an alarm bell to be struck with a hammer. See Martel.

Definitions

1. (Fort.) A building of masonry, generally circular, usually erected on the seacoast, with a gun on the summit mounted on a traversing platform, so as to be fired in any direction. ✍ The English borrowed the name of the tower from Corsica in 1794.

Webster 1913

• noun a tower for mooring airships
  mooring mast.
  

WordNet

• noun a structure commanding a wide view of its surroundings
  lookout; lookout station; observatory.
  

WordNet

• noun twin skyscrapers built in Kuala Lumpur in 1997; 1482 feet high
  

WordNet

• (Arch.), a tower at the intersection of the nave and transept of a church; when crowned with a spire it was called also rood steeple. Weale.

Webster 1913

• one of certain lofty circular stone towers, tapering from the base upward, and usually having a conical cap or roof, which crowns the summit, found chiefly in Ireland. They are of great antiquity, and vary in heigh from thirty-five to one hundred and thiry feet.

Webster 1913

• noun a skyscraper built in Chicago in 1974; 1454 feet tall
  

WordNet

• noun tower of a kind once used to make shot; molten lead was poured through a sieve and dropped into water
  

WordNet

• a lofty tower for making shot, by dropping from its summit melted lead in slender streams. The lead forms spherical drops which cool in the descent, and are received in water or other liquid.

Webster 1913

• noun a building from which signals are sent to control the movements of railway trains
  signal box.
  

WordNet

• noun a tower that serves to support something
  

WordNet

• (Fort.), a bastion of masonry, often with chambers beneath, built at an angle of the interior polygon of some works.

Webster 1913

• noun tower consisting of a multistoried building of offices or apartments
  high-rise.
  
  • `tower block' is the British term for `high-rise'

WordNet

• noun or genus Arabis: erect cress widely distributed throughout Europe
  Turritis glabra; Arabis glabra; tower cress.
  
• noun European cress having stiff erect stems; sometimes placed in genus Turritis
  Arabis turrita; tower cress.
  

WordNet

• noun or genus Arabis: erect cress widely distributed throughout Europe
  Turritis glabra; Arabis glabra; tower cress.
  
• noun European cress having stiff erect stems; sometimes placed in genus Turritis
  Arabis turrita; tower cress.
  

WordNet

• (Bot.), the cruciferous plant Arabis perfoliata.

Webster 1913

• noun (Genesis 11:1-11) a tower built by Noah's descendants (probably in Babylon) who intended it to reach up to heaven; God foiled them by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another
  Babel.
  

WordNet

• noun a fortress in London on the Thames; used as a palace and a state prison and now as a museum containing the crown jewels
  

WordNet

• a collection of buildings in the eastern part of London, formerly containing a state prison, and now used as an arsenal and repository of various objects of public interest.

Webster 1913

• noun a great lighthouse (500 feet high) built at Alexandria in 285 BC
  

WordNet

• noun a person who can be relied on to give a great deal of support and comfort
  pillar of strength.
  

WordNet

• noun twin skyscrapers 110 stories high in New York City; built 1368 feet tall in 1970 to 1973; destroyed by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001
  World Trade Center; WTC.
  

WordNet

• noun a large reservoir for water
  

WordNet

Wa"ter tow"er

Definitions

1. A large metal pipe made to be extended vertically by sections, and used for discharging water upon burning buildings. 2. A tall water storage tank in the shape of a tower.

Webster 1913