tourelle

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French tourelle. Doublet of tor, tower, and turret.

Noun

tourelle (plural tourelles)

  1. A turret.
    • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Grey Woman:
      Large, stately, and dark was its [the château's] outline against the dusky night-sky; there were pepper-boxes and tourelles and what-not fantastically going up into the dim starlight.
    • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 45:
      At each corner of the court rises a quaint and crusty little tourelle from which the beseiged could keep up a raking fire along the thick walls.

French

Etymology

From tour +‎ -elle.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tu.ʁɛl/

Noun

tourelle f (plural tourelles)

  1. turret (of building, tank)
  2. conning tower (of submarine)

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: tourelle
  • Russian: туре́ль (turélʹ)

Further reading