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

Etymology

Origin of saloon

First recorded in 1720–30; variant of salon

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

How many times can England drink in the last chance saloon?

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

But, just when it looked like the Iran match could be the last-chance saloon, Salah took matters into his hands to spark wild celebrations among Egypt fans across the world.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

That’s after watching a documentary about frontiersman Henry James Entrikin, enjoying a drink at a saloon and grilling hot dogs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025

“The fact is she’s living in a saloon and a stone’s throw from that spooky Miss Sadie’s Divining Parlor. My mother says that place is nothing but a den of iniquity.”

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

Even the smaller "crossover" versions, more closely related to conventional cars, tend to be taller and wider than traditional saloons, hatchbacks or estates.

From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025

Harnett found an enthusiastic clientele among merchants and industrialists who appreciated his male themes and appealing arrangements; they proudly hung his works in offices, stores and saloons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

The single, folded sheet lists just 90 names, mostly businesses near historic downtown such as liveries, saloons, physicians, mills, druggists and the local undertaker.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025

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

Booth was a creature of the city and its fancy hotel lobbies, saloons, oyster bars, and gaslit shadows.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

Related Words

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