Martello tower

Mar·tel·lo tower

[alsom- t-] any of the circular forts of masonry built in the 19th cent. by the British on coasts to protect against invaders

Origin of Martello tower

Italian martello, a hammer, folk etymology substitution for mortella, a tower, after Mortella, cape in Corsica, where such a tower was attacked by the English fleet (1794)

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Martello tower

noun

A short, circular tower, usually made of stone and located near a shoreline as a defensive fortification.

Origin of Martello tower

After Cape Mortella , Corsica, where such a tower was taken from French control by British forces in 1794 ( influenced by Italian martello hammer ) ( in torre di martello hammer tower, a kind of watchtower of the coasts and islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea from which an alarm signal was given by striking a bell with a hammer rather than by lighting a fire )

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"Martello tower." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Martello-Tower.

APA Style

Martello tower. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Martello-Tower

Noun

(plural Martello towers)

A short sturdy round masonry fort, especially one constructed at various coastal points in the British Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.

Origin

Alteration of the name of Cape Mortella in Corsica, after Italian martello (“hammer").

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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MLA Style

"Martello tower." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Martello-Tower.

APA Style

Martello tower. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Martello-Tower

Martello tower

Martello tower

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Martello tower

Martello tower

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