turret

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English turet, also toret and tourette,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French torete, also tourete,^[2][5][6][7] a diminutive of tor or tour (“tower”),^[2][7][3][4] from Latin turris (“tower”),^[2][5][8][3] the source of tower.^[9][8] The French word is recorded from the 12th century,^[2][5] and was later replaced by tourelle.^[10] The OED suggests that the modern spelling with a double r may be due to torretta, the Italian diminutive of torre.^[2] It also notes that an earlier toret meaning the summit of a hill, is probably a different borrowing, from Old French turet (“hill”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small tower forming part of a larger building: about 1330, in the Auchinleck manuscript of the romance Guy of Warwick.^[2][8] Barnhart dates it to probably about 1300, and Etymonline also has about 1300.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

The word kept its first sense, a small tower rising from a wall or the corner of a castle, through Middle and Modern English.^[2][5] From 1473 to 1578 it also named a tall headdress worn by women,^[2][5] while from 1593 to 1680 it meant figuratively the highest point of something.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as a small rise above the rest of a building, a little tower.^[11] The military sense, a low armoured gun tower on a warship or fort, usually revolving, is recorded from 1862,^[2][5][10] and was later extended to tanks and aircraft.^[5][12] From 1875 the word was also used for the revolving tool holder of a lathe, and in the United States for the raised middle of a railway carriage roof.^[2] In boxing slang of the 19th century turret meant the face, and in Australian slang the head.^[13] In Hampshire the clumps of tufted sedge were called turrets or torrets.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – a small tower on a larger building.^[2]
• 1450 – verb, to furnish with turrets.^[2]
• 1473 – a tall headdress worn by women (obsolete by 1578).^[2]
• 1565 – a siege tower (rare, obsolete).^[2]
• 1593 – figurative, the highest point (obsolete by 1680).^[2]
• 1766 – in heraldry.^[2]
• 1862 – an armoured gun tower on a warship or fort.^[2][5]
• 1875 – the revolving tool holder of a lathe.^[2]
• 1951 – a lens turret on a camera.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small tower that rises from a larger building, especially one at a corner of a castle wall: The children climbed the spiral stairs to the top of the turret.^[12][4][2]
2. An armoured, usually revolving structure that holds guns, on a tank, warship or fort.^[12][2]
3. A similar structure on an aircraft, housing one or more guns and sometimes a gunner.^[12]
4. A revolving holder for several tools on a lathe or other machine tool, which can be turned to bring each tool to the work.^[12][4][2]
5. (heraldry) A small tower on top of a larger one.^[4][2]
6. (historical) A tall wooden tower on wheels used by besiegers to scale the walls of a fortress.^[12][2]

Word family

• turretless
• turreted
• turret lathe

Related words

• tower

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)