Martello tower
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of Martello tower
Named after Cape Mortella, Corsica, where a tower of this kind was taken by British forces in 1794
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Ulysses” begins in the Martello tower in Sandycove, Dublin, where Gogarty and Joyce were briefly housemates.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
Much of it takes place along the coast, overlooking the Irish Sea, including key scenes shot at rocky bathing spot Forty Foot, in Sandycove, below the Martello tower where James Joyce stayed and “Ulysses” opens.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 19, 2022
I leave the bike by the Martello tower and walk up the beach towards the abandoned village.
From The Verge • Mar. 31, 2018
We’re shacked up just on that hill by the old Martello tower.
From The New Yorker • Aug. 5, 2013
It looked, as Fleming the gunner remarked, “like a Martello tower adrift.”
From A Voyage round the World A book for boys by Kingston, William Henry Giles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
