Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TOW'ER, n. [Sax. tor, tirre; Ir. tor; Fr. and Arm. tour; Sp. It. and Port. torre; W. twr, a heap or pile; Corn. id.; G. thurm; D. torm; L. turris; Gr. τυρσις; Heb. טורה. Class Dr, No. 24.]

1. A building, either round or square, raised to a considerable elevation, and consisting of several stories. When towers are erected with other buildings, as they usually are, they rise above the main edifice. They are generally flat on the top, and thus differ from steeples or spires. Before the invention of guns, places were fortified with towers, and attacked with movable towers mounted on wheels, which placed the besiegers on a level with the walls. Cyc.
2. A citadel; a fortress. Ps. lxi.
3. A high head dress. Hudibras.
4. High flight; elevation. Johnson. Tower bastion, in fortification, a small tower in the form of a bastion, with rooms or cells underneath for men and guns. Cyc. Tower of London, a citadel containing an arsenal. It is also a palace where the kings of England have sometimes lodged. Cyc.