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Tower vs Turret - What's the difference?

tower | turret |

As nouns the difference between tower and turret

is that tower is a structure, usually taller than it is wide, often used as a lookout, usually unsupported by guy-wires while turret is a little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle.

As a verb tower

is to be very tall.

tower

English

(wikipedia tower)

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) torr, from (etyl) turris. Probably influenced by Welsh .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A structure, usually taller than it is wide, often used as a lookout, usually unsupported by guy-wires.
    • From the top of the tower we could see far off into the distance.
  • (figuratively) Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.
  • (informal) An interlocking tower.
  • (figurative) A strong refuge; a defence.
  • * Bible, Psalms lxi. 3
    • Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
  • (historical) A tall fashionable headdress.
  • * Hudibras
    • Lay trains of amorous intrigues / In towers , and curls, and periwigs.
  • (obsolete) High flight; elevation.
    • (Johnson)
  • The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many decks, deemed an ill omen.
    • Synonyms
    * donjon
    Derived terms
    * control tower * guardtower * interlocking tower * radio tower * siege tower * tower of Babel * towers of Hanoi * tower of strength * watchtower * water tower

    See also

    * * mast

    Verb

  • To be very tall.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • To be high or lofty; to soar.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • My lord protector's hawks do tower so well.
  • (obsolete) To soar into.
    • (Milton)

    Derived terms

    * tower over

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who tows.
  • * 1933 , Henry Sturmey, ?H. Walter Staner, The Autocar
    • But as the tower and towee reached the cross-roads again, another car, negligently driven, came round the corner, hit the Morris, and severed the tow rope, sending the unfortunate car back again into the shop window

    Anagrams

    *

    turret

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) a little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle
  • a siege tower; a movable building, of a square form, consisting of ten or even twenty stories and sometimes one hundred and twenty cubits high, usually moved on wheels, and employed in approaching a fortified place, for carrying soldiers, engines, ladders, casting bridges, and other necessaries
  • (label) an armoured, rotating gun installation, on a fort, ship, aircraft, or armoured fighting vehicle
  • (label) the elevated central portion of the roof of a passenger car. Its sides are pierced for light and ventilation
  • (label) a tower-like solder post on a turret board (a circuit board with posts instead of holes)

    • Synonyms

    * (military) cupola

    Derived terms

    {{der3, turret board , turret clock , turret head , turret lathe , turret ship}}

    Anagrams

    *