shot tower

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noun

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.

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In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

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Origin of shot tower

First recorded in 1810–20

Words nearby shot tower

shot-putter, shott, shotten, shotting, shot to hell, shot tower, shottsuru, shot up, Shotwell, should, shoulder

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use shot tower in a sentence

Just at this moment, something burst, and I found myself going up at the rate of two steeples and a shot-tower a second.
The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers. Series 1|Robert H. Newell
She made for the South East, unconsciously guided by the hieratic shot tower of Westminster.
A Bed of Roses|W. L. George
He also, in 1799, erected a shot-tower, in which patent shot of an approved quality were made.
Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas|Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
That's just this side of where you see the shot-tower, and runs thence four or five blocks to the right.
Bancroft's Tourist's Guide Yosemite|A.L. Bancroft

The high building, George's patent shot tower, G. Delamotte, del.
The King's Post|R. C. Tombs

British Dictionary definitions for shot tower

shot tower

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012