parlour
Americannoun
noun
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old-fashioned a living room, esp one kept tidy for the reception of visitors
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a reception room in a priest's house, convent, etc
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a small room for guests away from the public rooms in an inn, club, etc
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a room or shop equipped as a place of business
a billiard parlor
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a small shop, esp one selling cakes and nonalcoholic drinks
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Also called: milking parlour. a building equipped for the milking of cows
Spelling
See -or 1.
Etymology
Origin of parlour
C13: from Anglo-Norman parlur, from Old French parleur room in convent for receiving guests, from parler to speak; see parley
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Percy discovered the book ‘lying dirty on the floor under a bureau in the parlour’ of his friend Humphrey Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, ‘being used by maids to light the fire.’
From Ballads of Romance and Chivalry Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series by Sidgwick, Frank
In the morning the housemaid was terrified by the impression of a hand in the dust of the 'little parlour' table, where they had been unpacking delft and other things the day before.
From The House by the Church-Yard by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
Again the laugh went round, and Mrs. Buggins precipitately retired to her 'inner parlour' there to recover from the shock occasioned to her religious feelings by the irreverent remarks of her too matter- of-fact customer.
From God's Good Man by Corelli, Marie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
