What is "turret"

Turrethead \Tur"ret*head\ an attachment fitted to a lathe or other machinery which holds a variety of tools which can act on the object being worked, and which are interchangeable by a pivoting motion, thus allowing efficient performance of multiple operations; -- also called a turret.

c.1300, touret "small tower forming part of a city wall or castle," from Old French torete (12c., Modern French tourette), diminutive of tour "tower," from Latin turris (see tower (n.1)). Meaning "low, flat gun-tower on a warship" is recorded from 1862, later also of tanks. Related: Turreted. Welsh twrd is from English.

n. 1 (label en architecture) a little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle 2 (label en historical military) a siege tower; a movable building, of a square form, consisting of ten or even twenty stories and sometimes one hundred and twenty cubits high, usually moved on wheels, and employed in approaching a fortified place, for carrying soldiers, engines, ladders, casting bridges, and other necessaries 3 (label en military) an armoured, rotating gun installation, on a fort, ship, aircraft, or armoured fighting vehicle 4 (label en railroads) the elevated central portion of the roof of a passenger car. Its sides are pierced for light and ventilation 5 (label en electronics) a tower-like solder post on a turret board (a circuit board with posts instead of holes)

1. n. a small tower extending above a building

2. a self-contained weapons platform housing guns and capable of rotation [syn: gun enclosure, gun turret]

In architecture, a turret (from Italian: torretta, little tower; Latin: turris, tower) is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification. As their military use faded, turrets were used for decorative purposes, as in the Scottish baronial style.

A turret can have a circular top with crenellations as seen in the picture at right, a pointed roof, or other kind of apex. It might contain a staircase if it projects higher than the building; however, a turret is not necessarily higher than the rest of the building; in this case, it is typically part of a room, that can be simply walked into – see the turret of Chateau de Chaumont on the collection of turrets, which also illustrates a turret on a modern skyscraper.

A building may have both towers and turrets; turrets might be smaller or higher but the difference is generally considered to be that a turret projects from the edge of the building, rather than continuing to the ground. The size of a turret is therefore limited by technology, since it puts additional stresses on the structure of the building. It would traditionally be supported by a corbel.

A turret is a small tower that projects above the wall of a building.

Turret may also refer to:

• Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
• Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
• Missile turret, a device for aiming missiles towards their intended target before launch
• The Turret, a headland in Antarctica
• Trading turret, a specialised telephony key system
• Turret (anatomy), an element of the anatomy of a turret sponge
• Turret (character), a character in the television series Dino-Riders
• Turret (electronics), an element of a turret board that is soldered to electronic components to complete a circuit layout
• Turret (superstructure), an element in the design of turret deck ships
• Turret (toolholder), an indexable holder of multiple tools
  • Turret lathe, a lathe with a turret toolholder
• Turret (Hadrian's Wall), one of a series of watchtowers

A turret was a small watch tower, incorporated into the curtain wall of Hadrian's Wall. The turrets were normally spaced at intervals of one third of a Roman mile (equivalent to ) between Milecastles, giving two Turrets between each Milecastle.