\Tow"er\, n. [OE. tour,tor,tur, F. tour, L. turris; akin
to Gr. ?; 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.

2. A citadel; a fortress; hence, a defense.

         Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower
         from the enemy.                       --Ps. lxi. 3.

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

         Lay trains of amorous intrigues In towers, and
         curls, and periwigs.                  --Hudibras.

4. High flight; elevation. [Obs.] --Johnson.

{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.

\Tow"er\, 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.

      On the other side an high rock towered still.
                                               --Spenser.

      My lord protector's hawks do tower so well. --Shak.

\Tow"er\, v. t.
To soar into. [Obs.] --Milton.