parlor

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par·lor

(pär′lər)

1. A room in a private home set apart for the entertainment of visitors.

2. A small lounge or sitting room affording limited privacy, as at an inn or tavern.

3. A business establishment with one or more rooms equipped and furnished for a special function: a tanning parlor; a funeral parlor; an ice-cream parlor.

[Middle English parlur, from Old French, from parler, to talk; see parley.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

par•lor

(ˈpɑr lər)

n.

1. a room in a home for receiving visitors; living room.

2. a shop or business establishment: ice-cream parlor; beauty parlor.

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

adj.

4. advocating a political view or doctrine at a safe remove from actual involvement or commitment to action: parlor socialist.

Also, esp. Brit.,parlour.

[1175–1225; Middle English parlur < Anglo-French; Old French parleor=parl(er) to speak (see parley) + -eor -or²]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	parlor - reception room in an inn or club where visitors can be received parlour reception room - a room for receiving and entertaining visitors (as in a private house or hotel)
	2.	parlor - a room in a private house or establishment where people can sit and talk and relax front room, living room, living-room, sitting room, parlour common room - a sitting room (usually at school or university) dwelling, dwelling house, habitation, home, abode, domicile - housing that someone is living in; "he built a modest dwelling near the pond"; "they raise money to provide homes for the homeless" morning room - a sitting room used during the daylight hours room - an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling; "the rooms were very small but they had a nice view" salon - elegant sitting room where guests are received

Translations

Stube Wohnzimmer

salón

parlatorio

lokalsalon

parlour

(American) parlor (ˈpaːlə) noun

1. a room in a (usually small) house used for sitting in and for entertaining guests.

2. room(s) for customers usually of firms providing particular services. a beauty parlo(u)r; a funeral parlo(u)r.

ˈparlour-maid noun

a female servant who opens the door to visitors, serves tea etc.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Burch said, if any sister would offer entertainment, they would pass the night, and have a parlor meeting in Riverboro to-morrow, with Mrs.

As they passed the parlor door Miranda thought she heard a crackle and looked in.

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Directing the coachman to a place under the shed in the big, clean, tidy yard, with charred, old-fashioned ploughs in it, the old man asked Levin to come into the parlor. A cleanly dressed young woman, with clogs on her bare feet, was scrubbing the floor in the new outer room.

The parlor was a big room, with a Dutch stove, and a screen dividing it into two.

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My room is a neat little spot `off the parlor' -- just big enough for the bed and me.

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But she must not make her come into the warm parlor; for, you know, our little snow-sister will not love the warmth."

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As she stepped nearer and peered longingly out, she saw something else: she saw, only a little way below the window, the wide, flat tin roof of Miss Polly's sun parlor built over the porte-cochere.

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The door was open into the parlor, where the corpse was laying, and there was a candle in both rooms.

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Twice he paused to snuff the air, and then anew directed his course towards the parlor window.

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My voice had evidently reached the ears of somebody in the back parlor. Who the person was I could not see, but I heard the rustle of a woman's dress.

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The party moved along the hall, the twins in advance, and entered the open parlor door, whence issued a low hum of conversation.

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Baker was "imprisoned"--in a parlor; and he could not have been more visited, or more overwhelmed with attentions, if he had committed six murders and then-- while the gallows was preparing--"got religion"--after the manner of the holy Charles Peace, of saintly memory.