bower

bow·er

A wisteria bower.

noun

The definition of a bower is an area shaded by trees or other plants, a woman's private dressing room or a country cottage.

An example of bower is an arbor covered with vining flowers.
An example of bower is the room where a bride would get dressed for her wedding.
An example of bower is a small private house where a newly wedded couple would go for their honeymoon.

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"bower." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Bower>.

APA Style

bower. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Bower

bower

a place enclosed by overhanging boughs of trees or by vines on a trellis; arbor
Old Poet. a rustic cottage or retreat
Archaic a lady's boudoir
a hut and platform of twigs built by a male bowerbird: used only for courtship and not as a nest

Origin of bower

Middle English bour from Old English bur, room, hut, dwelling, akin to German bauer, bird cage: for Indo-European base see bondage

to form into a bower; enclose with boughs, etc.

the jack of trump (right bower) or the jack of the other suit of the same color (left bower), the highest card and next highest card, respectively, in euchre

Origin of bower

German bauer, peasant (akin to bower): so called from the figure sometimes used as the jack

the heaviest anchor of a ship, normally carried at the bow

Origin of bower

from bow

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MLA Style

"bower." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Bower>.

APA Style

bower. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Bower

bower

noun

A shaded, leafy recess; an arbor.
A woman's private chamber in a medieval castle; a boudoir.
A rustic cottage; a country retreat.

transitive verb

bow·ered, bow·er·ing, bow·ers

To enclose in or as if in a bower; embower.

Origin of bower

Middle English bour a dwelling from Old English būr ; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

bow′er·y
adjective

noun

Nautical

An anchor carried at the bow.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"bower." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Bower>.

APA Style

bower. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Bower

Noun

(plural bowers)

A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
(literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.
A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods.
(ornithology) A large structure made of grass and bright objects, used by the bower bird during courtship displays.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present bowers, present participle bowering, simple past and past participle bowered)

To embower; to enclose.

Origin

From Old English būr, from Proto-Germanic *būraz. Cognate with German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (Danish bur, Swedish bur (“cage”)).

Noun

(plural bowers)

A peasant; a farmer.

Origin

From Middle English boueer, from Old English būr, ġebūr (“freeholder of the lowest class, peasant, farmer”) and Middle Dutch bouwer (“farmer, builder, peasant”); both from Proto-Germanic *būraz (“dweller”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to dwell”). Cognate with German Bauer (“peasant, builder”), Dutch boer, buur, and Albanian burrë (“man, husband”). See boor, neighbor.