%tower%

1. n. The shot-proof pilot house of a war vessel. [ archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. the raised structure rising above the deck of a submarine. [ PJC ]

[ 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. ] (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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The English borrowed the name of the tower from Corsica in 1794. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To soar too high. [ R. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To tower over or above. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. tour, tor, tur, F. tour, L. turris; akin to Gr. &unr_;; cf. W. twr a tower, Ir. tor a castle, Gael. torr a tower, castle. Cf. Tor, Turret. ] 1. (Arch.) (a) A mass of building standing alone and insulated, usually higher than its diameter, but when of great size not always of that proportion. (b) A projection from a line of wall, as a fortification, for purposes of defense, as a flanker, either or the same height as the curtain wall or higher. (c) A structure appended to a larger edifice for a special purpose, as for a belfry, and then usually high in proportion to its width and to the height of the rest of the edifice; as, a church tower. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A citadel; a fortress; hence, a defense. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. Ps. lxi. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A headdress of a high or towerlike form, fashionable about the end of the seventeenth century and until 1715; also, any high headdress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lay trains of amorous intrigues
In towers, and curls, and periwigs. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. High flight; elevation. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gay Lussac's tower (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. --
Glover's tower (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. --
Round tower. See under Round, a. --
Shot tower. See under Shot. --
Tower bastion (Fort.), a bastion of masonry, often with chambers beneath, built at an angle of the interior polygon of some works. --
Tower mustard (Bot.), the cruciferous plant Arabis perfoliata. --
Tower of London, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. towered p. pr. & vb. n. towering. ] To rise and overtop other objects; to be lofty or very high; hence, to soar. [ 1913 Webster ]

On the other side an high rock towered still. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

My lord protector's hawks do tower so well. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To soar into. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adorned or defended by towers. [ 1913 Webster ]

Towered cities please us then. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, extreme; violent; surpassing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man agitated by a towering passion. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having towers; adorned or defended by towers. [ R. ] “Towery cities.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tower in which a sentinel is placed to watch for enemies, the approach of danger, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]