saloon

American  

[suh-loon] / səˈlun /

noun

• saloons
  plural

1. a place for the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks.

2. a room or place for general use for a specific purpose.

   a dining saloon on a ship.

3. a large cabin for the common use of passengers on a passenger vessel.

4. British.

   1. (in a tavern or pub) a section of a bar or barroom separated from the public bar and often having more comfortable furnishings and a quieter atmosphere.

   2. saloon car.

5. a drawing room or reception room.

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saloon British  

/ səˈluːn /

noun

1. Also called: saloon bar. another word for lounge

2. a large public room on a passenger ship

3. any large public room used for a specific purpose

   a dancing saloon

4. a place where alcoholic drink is sold and consumed

5. US, Canadian, and NZ name: sedan. a closed two-door or four-door car with four to six seats

6. an obsolete word for salon

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• saloons
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of saloon

First recorded in 1720–30; variant of salon

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Explanation

A saloon is an old-fashioned name for a bar or a tavern. Suggest meeting at the local saloon after work and your friends might give you a funny look, but they'll know what you mean. A saloon is a place to sit drink a beer, though it's much more common these days to call it a bar or a pub. In the Old West, saloons played a huge role, providing refreshment to prospectors, trappers, and cowboys. The word comes from the French salon, and it originally had the same meaning, "living room." Later, saloon meant "hall," especially one on a boat or a train. In 1800's America, it came to mean "public house or bar."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

saloon saloons

Located on Main Street in an 1897 brick building, this inn, restaurant and saloon originally served as a boardinghouse for Homestake Gold Mine miners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Downing Street has rung me before when previous tenants appeared on the threshold of the last chance saloon: Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

They were giving out black bandannas with a drawing of Cherie Lee’s saloon emblazoned with Shaboozey “The Outlaw Cherie Lee,” the name of his forthcoming concept album.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026

Like Sweeney, Shaboozey also has a pop-up saloon at the festival, his promoting upcoming record “The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026

A strange, dark whirlwind swept through the dusty street and cried mournfully around the corner of the saloon.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

Where in the past it had supplied E-Types to Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen, it now struggled to sell upmarket saloons and SUVs to middle-ranking corporate executives, who generally preferred Audis and BMWs.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

According to biographer William J. Simmons, Woods was uninterested in saloons, instead devoting himself to studying an emerging technology—electricity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

Discover parks, hotels, saloons, restaurants and antique shops with an Old West ambiance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2023

In Russia, novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky described the streets of St. Petersburg, the rundown quarters in which the poor were condemned to live, and the cheap saloons in which they sought relief.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

He sold the business to one of the many transplants who’d come to South Carolina for a fresh start and Sam now worked at one of the saloons, the Drift.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

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Related Words

• barroom
• hangout
• nightclub
• pub
• speakeasy
• tavern
• watering hole

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