different between tower vs steeple

English

Alternative forms

• towre (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English tour, tur, tor, from Old English t?r, tor, torr ("tower; rock"; > English tor) and Old French tour, toer, tor; both from Latin turris (“a tower”).

Compare Scots tour, towr, towre (“tower”), West Frisian toer (“tower”), Dutch toren (“tower”), German Turm (“tower”), Danish tårn (“tower”), Swedish torn (“tower”), Icelandic turn (“tower”), Welsh t?r. Doublet of tor.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ta?.?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ta??/
• Rhymes: -a?.?(?)

Noun

tower (plural towers)

1. A very tall iron-framed structure, usually painted red and white, on which microwave, radio, satellite, or other communication antennas are installed; mast.
2. A similarly framed structure with a platform or enclosed area on top, used as a lookout for spotting fires, plane crashes, fugitives, etc.
3. A water tower.
4. A control tower.
5. Any very tall building or structure; skyscraper.

   The Sears Tower

6. (figuratively) Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.
7. (informal) An interlocking tower.
8. (figuratively) A strong refuge; a defence.

   • Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

9. (historical) A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.

   • Lay trains of amorous intrigues / In towers, and curls, and periwigs.

10. (obsolete) High flight; elevation.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

11. The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.
12. (cartomancy) The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.

Synonyms

• donjon

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? German: Tower
• ? Hindi: ???? (??var)
• ? Japanese: ??? (taw?)
• ? Korean: ?? (tawo)
• ? Northern Kurdish: tawer
• ? Punjabi: ???? (??var)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English touren, torren, torrien, from Old English *torrian, from the noun (see above).

Verb

tower (third-person singular simple present towers, present participle towering, simple past and past participle towered)

1. (intransitive) To be very tall.

2. (intransitive) To be high or lofty; to soar.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To soar into.

Derived terms

• tower over

See also

• The Tower (Tarot card) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mast

Etymology 3

From tow +? -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t??.?(?)/

Noun

tower (plural towers)

1. 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

• towre, twoer, wrote

Afrikaans

Verb

tower (present tower, present participle towerende, past participle getower)

1. Alternative form of toor.

English

Alternative forms

• steple (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English stepel, from Old English st?pel, st?pel, st?epel (“tower, steeple”), from Proto-Germanic *staupilaz (“that which is steep, tower, steeple”), equivalent to steep +? -le. Cognate with Old Norse stöpull (“tower, steeple”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sti?p?l/
• Rhymes: -i?p?l

Noun

steeple (plural steeples)

1. A tall tower, often on a church, normally topped with a spire.
2. A spire.
3. (historical) A high headdress of the 14th century.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

steeple (third-person singular simple present steeples, present participle steepling, simple past and past participle steepled)

1. (transitive) To form something into the shape of a steeple.

   He steepled his fingers as he considered the question.

Derived terms

• steepled

Translations

Anagrams

• Teeples, peelest