arbor1
[ahr-ber]
- a leafy, shady recess formed by tree branches, shrubs, etc.
- a latticework bower intertwined with climbing vines and flowers.
- Obsolete. a grass plot; lawn; garden; orchard.
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Also especially British, ar·bour.
Origin of arbor1
arbor2
[ahr-ber]
- Machinery.
- a bar, shaft, or axis that holds, turns, or supports a rotating cutting tool or grinding wheel, often having a tapered shank fitting tightly into the spindle of a machine tool.Compare mandrel.
- a beam, shaft, axle, or spindle.
- Metallurgy. a reinforcing member of a core or mold.
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Origin of arbor2
1650–60; respelling, by association with arbor3, of earlier arber, arbre < French, Old French < Latin arbor wooden beam or part in an olive press, tree
arbor3
[ahr-ber]
- a tree.
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Origin of arbor3
1660–70; < New Latin, Latin: tree.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for arbor
Contemporary Examples
Arbor House wants to buy the next two Leonard novels for $3 million.
Arbor House, which is where he wanted to go anyway, buys the ten-year-old book for more than $300,000.
Arbor House is paying Leonard $3 million for Freaky Deaky, the one in the typewriter now, and the one after it.
Historical Examples
As they drew near the arbor they heard Bradley say: "This was my dream, Dorothy."
Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The SearchlightMathew Joseph Holt
Then he waved his hand towards the long seat that stood at the back of the arbor.
The Lion's SkinRafael Sabatini
Got it hung on the lattice in my arbor in the garden down home in Maryland.
Mixed FacesRoy Norton
He might have won two planets, but he had turned his Eden into an arbor of deadly nightshade.
It's All YoursSam Merwin
From close by, within the arbor, came the sound of faint whispering.
The Adventures of Maya the BeeWaldemar Bonsels
arbor1
- the US spelling of arbour
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arbor2
- a rotating shaft in a machine or power tool on which a milling cutter or grinding wheel is fitted
- a rotating shaft or mandrel on which a workpiece is fitted for machining
- metallurgy a part, piece, or structure used to reinforce the core of a mould
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin: tree, mast
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for arbor
n.
c.1300, herber, "herb garden," from Old French erbier "field, meadow; kitchen garden," from Latin herba "grass, herb" (see herb). Later "a grassy plot" (early 14c., a sense also in Old French), "a shaded nook" (mid-14c.). Probably not from Latin arbor "tree," though perhaps influenced by its spelling.
The change from er- to ar- before consonants in Middle English also reflects a pronunciation shift: cf. farm from ferme, harbor from Old English herebeorg.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
arbor
(är′bər)- A treelike anatomical structure.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.