tower

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈtaʊ.ə/, US /ˈtaʊ.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tour, tur, inherited from Old English torr, reinforced by Old French tur and tour,^[2][3][4] all from Latin turris (“tower, citadel”),^[2][4] which, like Greek týrris, týrsis, was perhaps borrowed from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language.^[2][4] The spelling with -w- appears about 1400 (towr, 1382), probably a blend of tur and tour.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A building lofty in proportion to its base: about 897 in the OED and about 899 in Barnhart, in Alfred's Pastoral Care.^[5][4] It was often a fortress or prison, and the Tower of London was “the Tower” by 1100.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-14th century it was used of any lofty pile or mass.^[2] The figurative tower of strength comes from the Book of Common Prayer, where it meant a strong tower.^[6] The verb, to rise high, is from about 1400 in Etymonline and the OED,^[2][5] while Barnhart has 1582.^[4] Of hawks, to fly high before swooping, is from the 1590s.^[2][5] Old English had a verb torrian “to stand high”.^[2] A railway signal-box was a tower in the United States from 1900.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 897 – a tall building.^[5]
• c. 1100 – a stronghold or prison.^[5]
• c. 1400 – verb, to rise high.^[2][5]
• 1593 – of a hawk, to mount up.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A tall narrow building, or a tall part of a building such as a church or castle.
2. A tall structure used for observation, signalling or carrying cables.
3. A fortress or prison built in this form.
4. tower of strength: a person who gives strong support.

Verb

1. To be much taller than the things around; to loom.
2. To be much better or more important than others.

Word family

• towered
• towerlike
• towerless
• supertower
• towery
• minitower
• towerman
• tower-mill

Related words

• turret

Usage notes

A different tower, rhyming with “lower”, is one who tows, an agent noun from tow (1494 in the OED).^[5][2]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press