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A small round tower erected at the foot of a bastion. [Obs.]

the choir and the body of the church, over which the rood was placed. Fairholt. -- Rood tower (Arch.), a tower at the intersection of the nave and transept of a church; -- when crowned with a spire it was called also rood steeple. Weale. -- Rood tree, the cross. [Obs.] "Died upon the rood tree." Gower.…

sat King Arthur and his knights. See Knights of the Round Table, under Knight. -- Round tower, one of certain lofty circular stone towers, tapering from the base upward, and usually having a conical cap or roof, which crowns the summit, -- found chiefly in Ireland. They are of great antiquity, and vary in heigh from…

ed, dilapidated, or desolate house, fortress, city, or the like. The Veian and the Gabian towers shall fall, And one promiscuous ruin cover all; Nor, after length of years, a stone betray The place where once the very ruins lay. Addison. The labor of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the ruins of an old and v…

; -- said of such a roof when used in places where a different form is more common; as, a tower surmounted by a saddle roof. Called also saddleback roof. -- Saddle shell (Zoöl.), any thin plicated bivalve shaell of the genera Placuna and Anomia; -- so called from its shape. Called also saddle oyster.…

the body which intercepts the rays of light; as, the shadow of a man, of a tree, or of a tower. See the Note under Shade, n., 1.

with tarred hemp, to stop a hole made by the shot of an enemy in a ship's side. -- Shot tower, a lofty tower for making shot, by dropping from its summit melted lead in slender streams. The lead forms spherical drops which cool in the descent, and are received in water or other liquid. -- Shot window, a window proje…

Like the sky; ethereal; being in the sky. "Skyey regions." Thackeray. Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers, Lightning, my pilot, sits. Shelley.

Making or having no smoke. "Smokeless towers." Pope.

To pounce upon. [R.] [The gallant monarch] like eagle o'er his serie towers, To souse annoyance that comes near his nest. Shak.

up or out to a point in a conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Arch.), the roof of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as that of Strasburg cathedral; the tapering part of a steeple,…

m to support a superimposed mass, as where an octagonal spire or drum rests upon a square tower; -- called also sconce, and sconcheon.

To prop; to make stanch, or strong. His gathered sticks to stanch the wall Of the snow tower when snow should fall. Emerson.

ss, and spotted with yellowish white. It is a sociable bird, and builds about houses, old towers, etc. Called also stare, and starred. The pied starling of India is Sternopastor contra.

A spire; also, the tower and spire taken together; the whole of a structure if the roof is of spire form. See Spire. "A weathercock on a steeple." Shak. Rood steeple. See Rood tower, under Rood. -- Steeple bush (Bot.), a low shrub (Spiræa tomentosa) having dense panicles of minute rose-colored flowers; hardhack. -- S…

r or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints. [They] rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aërial sky. Milton.

one, consisting of, or abounding in, stone or stones; resembling stone; hard; as, a stony tower; a stony cave; stony ground; a stony crust.

Lifted up; high in place; exalted aloft; uplifted; lofty. Sublime on these a tower of steel is reared. Dryden.

tenebrious. -- Ten"e*brous*ness, n. The most dark, tenebrous night. J. Hall (1565). The towering and tenebrous boughts of the cypress. Longfellow.

sublunary; mundane. Vain labors of terrestrial wit. Spenser. A genius bright and base, Of towering talents, and terrestrial aims. Young.