Dictionary entry

Minaret

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Min″a‐ret (?), n. [Sp. minarete, Ar. manārat lamp, lantern, lighthouse, turret, fr. nār to shine.] (Arch.) A slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the summon to prayer is cried by the muezzin.