parlour

[pahr-ler]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR parlour ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, adjective Chiefly British.

parlor.

Usage note

See -or¹.

parlor

[pahr-ler]

noun

Older Use. a room for the reception and entertainment of visitors to one's home; living room.

a room, apartment, or building serving as a place of business for certain businesses or professions: funeral parlor; beauty parlor.

a somewhat private room in a hotel, club, or the like for relaxation, conversation, etc.; lounge.

Also called locutorium. a room in a monastery or the like where the inhabitants may converse with visitors or with each other.

adjective

advocating something, as a political view or doctrine, at a safe remove from actual involvement in or commitment to action: parlor leftism; parlor pink.

Also especially British, par·lour.

Origin of parlor

1175–1225; Middle English parlur < Anglo-French; Old French parleor, equivalent to parl(er) to speak (see parle) + -eor -or²

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

Related Words for parlour

parlor, salon, LR

Examples from the Web for parlour

Contemporary Examples of parlour

The Lost PaintingBy Jonathan Harr Not all of us have lost paintings by Caravaggio in our parlour.
Alexander McCall Smith’s Art Book Bag
Alexander McCall Smith
September 4, 2012

Historical Examples of parlour

I found my mother and sister together in my sister's parlour.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
In about ten minutes after my return to the parlour Lady Susan entered the room.
Lady Susan
Jane Austen
As soon as I was tolerably composed I returned to the parlour.
Lady Susan
Jane Austen
He stood still in the middle of the parlour, and looked into the kitchen in silence.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
Nothing in the world would have induced Ossipon to go into the parlour.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for parlour

parlour

US parlor

noun

old-fashioned a living room, esp one kept tidy for the reception of visitors

a reception room in a priest's house, convent, etc

a small room for guests away from the public rooms in an inn, club, etc

mainly US, Canadian and NZ a room or shop equipped as a place of businessa billiard parlor

Caribbean a small shop, esp one selling cakes and nonalcoholic drinks

Also called: milking parlour a building equipped for the milking of cows

Word Origin for parlour

C13: from Anglo-Norman parlur, from Old French parleur room in convent for receiving guests, from parler to speak; see parley

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 parlour

chiefly British English spelling of parlor (q.v.).

parlor

c.1200, parlur, "window through which confessions were made," also "apartment in a monastery for conversations with outside persons;" from Old French parleor "courtroom, judgment hall, auditorium" (12c., Modern French parloir), from parler "to speak" (see parley (n.)).

Sense of "sitting room for private conversation" is late 14c.; that of "show room for a business" (e.g. ice cream parlor) first recorded 1884. As an adjective, "advocating radical views from a position of comfort," 1910.