English Explanatory Dictionary

bower

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
  2. A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.
  3. A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods.
  4. A large structure made of grass, twigs, etc., and decorated with bright objects, used by male bower birds during courtship displays.
verb
  1. To embower; to enclose.
  2. To lodge.
noun
  1. A peasant; a farmer.
noun
  1. Either of the two highest trumps in the card games euchre and five hundred (where the joker is omitted).
noun
  1. A type of ship's anchor, carried at the bow.
noun
  1. One who bows or bends.
  2. A muscle that bends a limb, especially the arm.
noun
  1. One who plays any of several bow instruments, such as the musical bow or diddley bow.
noun
  1. A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈbaʊə(ɹ)/ /ˈbəʊə(ɹ)/

Word forms

bower bowers bowre bowering bowered bougher

Etymology

From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (Danish bur, Norwegian Bokmål bur, Swedish bur).

Synonyms

boudoir

Related words

Bower Ashton Bauer

Derived words

Bower Ashton bowerland bowerless bowerlet Bowers Gifford bower vine bowerwoman bowery bridal bower lady's bower virgin's bower imbower overbowering best bower left bower right bower bower anchor small bower diddley bower Bower-Barff
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