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:

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.

View in context