parlor

• parlour (British)

Inherited from Middle English parlour, from Old French parleor, parloir, parleoir, from the verb parler (“to speak”); compare Medieval Latin parlātōrium.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːlə/
• (General American) enPR: pärʹlər, IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹlɚ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)lə(ɹ)

parlor (plural parlors)

1. The living room of a house, or a room for entertaining guests; a room for talking; a sitting-room or drawing room
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 12, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.

2. (archaic) The apartment in a monastery or nunnery where the residents are permitted to meet and converse with each other or with visitors from the outside.
3. (archaic) A comfortable room in a public house.
4. (chiefly Southern US) A covered open-air patio.
5. A shop or other business selling goods specified by context.
6. A shed used for milking cattle.
7. (Philippines) Short for beauty parlor.

• (room): living room
• (room): sitting room
• (room): drawing room

• room

• parlor in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• parlor in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• parlor at OneLook Dictionary Search

Short for English beauty parlor.

• Hyphenation: par‧lor

parlor

1. a beauty parlor