Definition of martello tower Martello tower

Mar•tel•lo tow•er

We found 4 definitions of martello tower from 4 different sources.

What does martello tower mean?

Noun
martello tower - a circular masonry fort for coastal defence

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

martello tower
A building of masonry, generally circular, usually erected on the seacoast, with a gun on the summit mounted on a traversing platform, so as to be fired in any direction.

martello tower
So named from a tower in the Bay of Mortella, in Corsica, which, in 1794, maintained a very determined resistance against the English. A martello tower at the entrance of the bay of Gaeta beat off H.M.S. Pompée, of 80 guns. A martello is built circular, and thus difficult to hit, with walls of vast thickness, pierced by loop-holes, and the bomb-proof roof is armed with one heavy traversing gun. They are 30 to 40 feet high, surrounded by a dry fosse, and the entrance is by a ladder at a door several feet from the ground.

martello tower in sign language