(ˈ)sa|lōⁿ, səˈlän, (ˈ)sa|län also səˈlōn or (ˈ)sa|lōn or (ˈ)sȧ|lōⁿ sometimes (ˈ)sa|läⁿ or səˈlōⁿ noun
( plural salons -ōⁿ(z), -änz, -ōnz, -äⁿ(z))
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French — more at saloon
1. : a usually spacious and elegant apartment or living room (as in a fashionable French home)
2. : a fashionable assemblage that is held by custom at the home of a usually socially prominent person and takes its character from the kind of notables (as literary figures, artists, or statesmen) who frequent it
literary salons … have flourished in Paris since the days of Louis XIV — Malcolm Cowley
witty favorite of Society … and mistress of a brilliant salon — advt
3.
a. : an apartment or hall for the exhibition of works of art (as paintings and sculptures)
b. usually capitalized
(1) : an annual exhibition of such works ; especially : one held by a national society of artists
(2) : an annual exhibition usually international in scope of outstanding photographs, color slides, and transparencies
4. : a business establishment or shop having stylishness
a shoe salon
a beauty salon
a reducing salon