parlor Hear it!

parlor definition

par·lor (pärlər)

noun

    1. Archaic a room set aside for the entertainment of guests; formal sitting room
    2. Old-fashioned any living room
  1. a small, semiprivate sitting room or meeting room apart from the main lounges in a hotel, inn, etc.
    1. Old-fashioned a business establishment elegantly furnished to resemble a private sitting room an ice-cream parlor
    2. now, a shop or business establishment, often with some special equipment or furnishings for personal services a beauty parlor

Etymology: ME parlour < OFr parleor < parler: see parley

Brit. sp. parlour par′·lour

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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