pub S2 W3 /pʌb/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: public house ]
a building in Britain where alcohol can be bought and drunk, and where meals are often served ⇨ bar :
Do you fancy going to the pub?
a pub lunch
the pub landlord
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ bar a place where people go to buy and drink alcoholic drinks:
A man went into a bar and ordered a drink.
|
Let’s meet up in the hotel bar.
|
The city centre is full of wine bars and restaurants.
|
The club has a restaurant and a cocktail bar.
▪ pub a building in Britain where alcohol can be bought and drunk, and where meals are often served:
Do you fancy going to the pub?
|
a country pub
▪ public house British English formal a pub:
The fight took place outside a public house in the city centre.
▪ sb’s local informal a pub near where you live, especially one you often go to:
The Red Lion’s my local.
▪ inn a small hotel or pub, especially an old one in the countryside – often used in the name of the hotel or pub:
The Bull Inn dates back to the 15th century.
|
The hotel was once a 17th century coaching inn (=used by people travelling by coach and horses) .
▪ gastropub a pub that is known to serve very good food:
a gastropub with a riverside restaurant
|
the Windmill Gastropub
▪ tavern British English a pub in the past where you could also stay the night – used nowadays in the names of some pubs:
the Turf Tavern
|
Marlowe was killed in a fight in a tavern.
▪ watering hole informal a bar, pub etc where people drink alcohol – often used humorously. A watering hole is also the name for a place where wild animals go to drink:
The bar became a popular watering hole for journalists.
|
What’s your favorite watering hole?
▪ dive informal a bar, club etc that is cheap and dirty:
The place is a bit of dive.
▪ honky-tonk American English informal a cheap bar where country music is played:
They played in every honky-tonk in Tennessee.
▪ saloon a bar in the western United States. Also used in Britain about the part of a pub which has comfortable chairs where you can sit and relax:
I felt like a cowboy walking into a saloon in the Wild West.
|
Do you want to stay in the saloon, or would rather go into the other bar?