The tower of strength British phrase
My roommate was a tower of strength to me when I was ill.
After losing my job, my boyfriend was a tower of strength and gave me encouragement to start looking for another job.
My dad is a tower of strength to my family.
A group of bad or sinful people
To count the number of people in a group to determine who is present
This idiom is used as a noun in the sentence.
This one is opposite to the idiom "in an ivory tower".
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This idiom derives from The Book of Common Prayer, 1549: "O lorde... Bee vnto them a tower of strength."
And also was later used in Richard III, 1594 by Shakespeare: "The king's name is a tower of strength."
To do something in an unusual way
I guess I like to run against the grain in everything I do.