turret

American  

[tur-it, tuhr-] / ˈtɜr ɪt, ˈtʌr- /

noun

1. a small tower, usually one forming part of a larger structure.

2. a small tower at an angle of a building, as of a castle or fortress, frequently beginning some distance above the ground.

3. Also called turrethead.  a pivoted attachment on a lathe or the like for holding a number of tools, each of which can be presented to the work in rapid succession by a simple rotating movement.

4. Military. a domelike, sometimes heavily armored structure, usually revolving horizontally, within which guns are mounted, as on a fortification, ship, or aircraft.

5. Fortification. a tall structure, usually moved on wheels, formerly employed in breaching or scaling a fortified place, a wall, or the like.

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turret British  

/ ˈtʌrɪt /

noun

1. a small tower that projects from the wall of a building, esp a medieval castle

2. 1. a self-contained structure, capable of rotation, in which weapons are mounted, esp in tanks and warships

   2. a similar structure on an aircraft that houses one or more guns and sometimes a gunner

3. a tall wooden tower on wheels used formerly by besiegers to scale the walls of a fortress

4. (on a machine tool) a turret-like steel structure with tools projecting radially that can be indexed round to select or to bring each tool to bear on the work

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Other Word Forms

• turretless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of turret

1300–50; Middle English turet < Middle French turete, equivalent to tur tower ¹ + -ete -et

Explanation

A turret is a small tower that is taller than the rest of the building. The long-haired fairy tale heroine Rapunzel had to stay in a turret. The classic turret is perched at the very top of a stone castle and is often small and rounded, with tiny windows. Another meaning of turret is the structure on a tank or fort that's heavily protected with armor and contains a gun. Often this kind of turret is rounded and can rotate, in order to fire in different directions.

Example Sentences

Those flowers will be laid on the forecourt grass in front of the North Turret of the Palace.

From BBC • Sep. 10, 2022

Those flowers will be laid on the Forecourt grass in front of the North Turret of the Palace.

From New York Times • Sep. 9, 2022

During World War II, he started Tucker Aviation Corp. and built the Tucker Turret, which was used on PT boats and bombers.

From Washington Times • Sep. 24, 2016

In the Turret, you have a high-precision 3500 DPI ambidextrous mouse, a fully anti-ghosted keyboard with dedicated Android TV buttons, and dual wireless connectivity allowing the user to connect via Bluetooth 4.0 or Wireless 2.4GHz.

From Forbes • Jan. 6, 2015

Turret, a small tower of great height in proportion to its diameter. p.

From The Children of Westminster Abbey Studies in English History by Kingsley, Rose Georgina

Related Words

• minaret
• spire
• steeple