shot tower

American  

noun

1. a tower from the top of which finely divided streams of molten lead are dropped down a central well, breaking up into spherical drops during their fall to be quenched and hardened in a tank of water at the bottom.

---

shot tower British  

noun

1. a building formerly used in the production of shot, in which molten lead was graded and dropped from a great height into water, thus cooling it and forming the shot

---

Etymology

Origin of shot tower

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

She made for the South East, unconsciously guided by the hieratic shot tower of Westminster.

From A Bed of Roses by George, Walter Lionel

The shot tower at First and Howard streets was gone.

From Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror by Linthicum, Richard

These monuments, however, such as they are, have, by the liberal contributions made for their erection, exceeded in cost that of Bunker Hill, or the half-finished shot tower in Washington.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 1, July, 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various

The naked cliff, rising sheer above the rapid current, was, early in this century, utilized as a shot tower.

From Historic Waterways?Six Hundred Miles of Canoeing Down the Rock, Fox, and Wisconsin Rivers by Thwaites, Reuben Gold

The shot tower bowed low and solemnly but did not fall.

From The Sisters-In-Law by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn