watch tower

A form of watchtower — An observation tower in which a lookout keeps watch over prisoners, or looks out for fires, etc.

Meanings

nounwatch tower (plural watch towers)

plural watch towers

  1. alternativeAlternative form of watchtower.

    The walls, moats, gates, and watch towers of the castle remain, but the main keep has not been rebuilt; […]

    1931 July 13, Commerce Reports, number 28, page 112, column 1
    2 more examples

    For my part, who can now no longer build chateaux even en Eſpagne, I find that Mowbray Caſtle, Graſmere Abbey, the caſtle of Rock-March, the caſtle of Hauteville, and Rayland Hall, have taken ſo many of my materials to conſtruct, that I have hardly a watch tower, a Gothic arch, a cedar parlour, or a long gallery, an illuminated window, or a ruined chapel, left to help myſelf.

    1794, Charlotte Smith, “Avis au Lecteur”, in The Banished Man. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, pages iii–iv

    They were interrupted by the entrance of a youth from one of the watch towers of the castle, who communicated intelligence that the army of the Yorkists was in sight.

    1858, [Louisa Matilda Spooner], Gladys of Harlech; an Historical Romance, volume I, London: Charles J. Skeet, […], page 37
Cite this entry
APA

watch tower. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/watch%20tower

MLA

“watch tower.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/watch%20tower. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “watch tower,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/watch%20tower.

Source: watch tower on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.