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Tower of London

Tower of London

2 4.2
An old castle in London that was a royal palace and prison and now holds the crown jewels
  • proper noun
translation icon : Torre de Londres
  • - Cromwell has been sent to the Tower of London in disgrace and he isn't even afforded a trial.
  • a prisoner in the Tower of London

Examples

  • His son Carew was conceived and born while Raleigh was legally 'dead' and imprisoned in the Tower of London (1604).

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  • Oliver, can we visit the Tower of London and Saint Paul's? - Oh, and Harrods? - Of course.

  • And eventually Catherine is taken herself to the Tower of London.

  • Mary arrives in London with an army of men and seizes the Tower of London.

  • Mary believes that Elizabeth is part of this conspiracy and arrests her sister, imprisoning her in the Tower of London.

  • Very dramatically, on the 2nd of May, 1536, Anne is arrested at the Palace of Greenwich and is taken to the Tower of London.

  • He was left to languish in the Tower of London until 1616.

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  • - In the wake of Edward's death, Lady Jane Grey is suddenly proclaimed Queen and is taken to the Tower of London, which is usually at the center of political power at the point of a coronation.

  • In 1616, Sir Walter was released from the Tower of London in order to conduct a second expedition to Venezuela in search of El Dorado.

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  • Our next school outing will be a visit to the Tower of London.

Synonyms

Tower
vsTower of London
242 4.9

A famous old castle in central London where kings and queens once lived and people keep the Crown Jewels

has identical meaning but emphasizes its current role as a museum housing crown jewels

Surface Forms

Morphology

Tower + of + London

The basic referential meaning — a tower located in London — is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tower' + 'of' + 'London', following a common place-naming/genitive pattern. Although the specific historical roles (fortress, prison, crown jewels) are encyclopedic and not inferable from the words, a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand the MWE denotes a tower in London.

Etymology

Tower of London comes from the very old castle on the River Thames. It was built as a strong home for kings and was often used as a 'prison', and today it keeps the crown jewels and is a 'museum', so the name now brings to mind that famous fortress and its history.