Ivory tower


What's the meaning of the phrase 'Ivory tower'?

A state of sheltered and unworldly intellectual isolation.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Ivory tower'?

The first mention of ivory towers is in the Bible, Song of Solomon 7:4 (King James Version):

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

That biblical allusion is to the notion of ivory towers as symbols of virginal purity.

The contemporary figurative meaning is of a place of unworldly isolation. This may be in allusion to the famous Hawksmoor Towers of Oxford University’s All Souls’ College, which are ivory in colour (or at least, they were when they were built in 1716). The relative lateness of the first uses of the phrase (below) tend to argue against that derivation.

There are citations of the term in French in the 19th century but the earliest work in English that specifically refers to the current meaning of the phrase is a collaborative work of Frederick Rothwell and the splendidly named Cloudesley Shovell Henry Brereton –H. L. Bergson’s Laughter, 1911:

“Each member [of society] must be ever attentive to his social surroundings – he must avoid shutting himself up in his own peculiar character as a philosopher in his ivory tower.”

Trend of ivory tower in printed material over time

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

Gary Martin

Writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.
Ivory tower

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