turret

[ tur-it, tuhr- ]

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 tur·ret·head [tur, -it-hed, tuhr, -]. 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.

turret

/ 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

Other Words From

• turret·less adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of turret¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of turret¹

C14: from Old French torete , from tor tower, from Latin turris

Example Sentences

It had a turret on one side, and Sara wondered if it might technically be a castle.

From Literature

Despite their power, tanks are not impenetrable, and they are most vulnerable where their heavy plated armor is the thinnest: on the top, the rear engine block and the space between the hull and the turret.

From New York Times

For Gastou, a decorative art and antiques dealer who died in 2020 at age 72, the house, with its faded pale blue cement facade and roughly 40-foot-tall turret, fulfilled romantic fantasies of knights and fortified towers that had taken root during childhood trips to Carcassonne; he grew up near that medieval walled city in Limoux.

From New York Times

Summer, 1954 With her paper-cluttered desk spotlit underneath a pendant lamp, Margaret Mead’s office in the western turret in the American Museum of Natural History resembled a Broadway theater set.

From Slate

The soldier was not there for the tank’s engine or turret or treads.

From New York Times

Related Words

• minaret
• spire
• steeple