- parlour
- Parlor Par"lor, n. [OE. parlour, parlur, F. parloir, LL.
parlatorium. See {Parley}.] [Written also {parlour}.]
1. A room for business or social conversation, for the
reception of guests, etc. Specifically:
(a) The apartment in a monastery or nunnery where the
inmates are permitted to meet and converse with each
other, or with visitors and friends from without.
--Piers Plowman.
(b) In large private houses, a sitting room for the family
and for familiar guests, -- a room for less formal
uses than the drawing-room. Esp., in modern times, the
dining room of a house having few apartments, as a
London house, where the dining parlor is usually on
the ground floor.
(c) Commonly, in the United States, a drawing-room, or the
room where visitors are received and entertained; a
room in a private house where people can sit and talk
and relax, not usually the same as the dining room.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
Note: ``In England people who have a drawing-room no longer call it a parlor, as they called it of old and till recently.'' --Fitzed. Hall. [1913 Webster]
2. A room in an inn or club where visitors can be received. [WordNet 1.5]
{Parlor car}. See {Palace car}, under {Car}. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
