arbour

[ahr-ber]

noun Chiefly British.

arbor¹.

arbor

[ahr-ber]

noun

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.

Also especially British, ar·bour.

Origin of arbor

1350–1400; Middle English (h)erber < Anglo-French, Old French (h)erbier herbarium; respelling with -or under the influence of arbor³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for arbour

Historical Examples of arbour

Then she went down to the arbour where she had shelled peas only that morning.
The Incomplete Amorist
E. Nesbit
At the end of the walk was an arbour, in which I could see the glimmer of something white.
Wilfrid Cumbermede
George MacDonald
May I tell Monsieur Jules to serve breakfast for two in the arbour there?
The Avenger
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Will you sit in that arbour where I first talked to yourself and Miss Ross?
Against Odds
Lawrence L. Lynch
When they had been sitting in the arbour for a quarter of an hour or so she became loquacious.
Despair's Last Journey
David Christie Murray

British Dictionary definitions for arbour

arbour

noun

a leafy glade or bower shaded by trees, vines, shrubs, etc, esp when trained about a trellis

obsolete an orchard, garden, or lawn

Word Origin for arbour

C14 erber, from Old French herbier, from Latin herba grass

arbor

noun

the US spelling of arbour

arbor

noun

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

Word Origin for arbor

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 arbour

chiefly British English spelling of arbor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.

arbor

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.

arbour in Medicine

arbor

[är′bər]

n. pl. ar•bo•res (är′bə-rēz′)

A treelike anatomical structure.