I. ˈpärlər, ˈpȧlə(r noun
( -s )
Usage: see -or
Etymology: Middle English parlour, from Old French parleor, parlour parlor, reception room in a convent, from parler to speak, talk — more at parley
1. : a room used primarily for conversation or the reception of guests: as
a. : an apartment in a monastery or nunnery where the monastics are permitted to meet and converse with each other or with visitors
b. : a room in a private dwelling kept chiefly for the reception of visitors rather than for family use and usually better furnished than the other rooms in the dwelling — compare living room 1, sitting room
c. : a room in a large dwelling (as a mansion) or in a public building (as a city hall) used as a conference chamber or private reception room
d. : a room in a public building (as an inn, tavern, hotel, club) designed for conversation, rest, or semiprivacy
e. : one of a suite of rooms (as in a club or hotel) devoted to the general reception of members or guests
the parlors of the hotels were lavishly furnished — D.D.Martin
— usually used in plural
the annual Christmas supper … will be held Monday night in the church parlors — Hartford (Conn.) Courant
2. archaic : dining room
3. : something held to resemble an inner or special chamber
the parlor of his heart — George Macdonald †1905
4. : a business establishment usually devoted to a specified service or to the sale of a specified item
funeral parlor
beauty parlor
beer parlor
ice-cream parlor
II. adjective
Usage: see -or
1. : used in or suitable for a parlor
heard the parlor clock strike twelve — Helen Eustis
parlor trick
a … young woman with a parlor voice — Douglas Watt
parlor furniture
2.
a. : fostered or advocated in comfortable seclusion without consequent action or application to affairs
parlor bolshevism
b. : given to or characterized by fostering or advocating something (as a doctrine) in such a manner
parlor pink
parlor socialist