Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Parlor"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Parlor \Par"lor\, n. [OE. parlour, parlur, F. parloir, LL.
parlatorium. See {Parley}.] [Written also {parlour}.]
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.
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.
{Parlor car}. See {Palace car}, under {Car}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
parlor
n 1: reception room in an inn or club where visitors can be
received [syn: {parlour}]
2: a room in a private house or establishment where people can
sit and talk and relax [syn: {living room}, {livingroom},
{sitting room}, {front room}, {parlour}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.