parlourparlorn.adj.
/ˈpɑːlə/, U.S. /ˈpɑrlər/ A. n.† II. Talking, speech.
I. Senses relating to rooms.
1. A room or place for talking; spec. an apartment in a monastery or (esp. in later use) a convent, in which residents may converse with people from outside the establishment or amongst themselves.In quot. ?c1225: a grate or window through which anchoresses could communicate with someone outside, to make their confession, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > monastic property (general) > monastery or convent > parts of monastery > [noun] > parlour
speech-housec1050
parlour?c1225
colloque1482
locutory1482
speak-housec1650
parlatory1651
locutorium1655
parloir1728
speak-room1756
fratry1874
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 56 Nomeð þer þurch To ouwer wimon þe huses þurl. þe parlures [a1250 Nero parlurs þurle] to þe oðre.
c1300 St. Dominic (Laud) 286 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 286 (MED) In þe parlore..ich heom makie telle..euerech oþur tyþingue, And make heom þenche and speke al-so of folies and lesinge.
c1390 (c1300) MS Vernon Homilies in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1877) 57 278 (MED) Þe prior him to parlur calde And asked his nome.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 6963 He asked leue at þe Prioure to speke with Constant in þe parloure [Fr. parleor].
a1425 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 670 Hoc locutorium, parloure.
1548 in Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes XXIV. f. 170 Ane gret wolt within the said abbay [sc. Kilwinning] callit the parlour.
1593 Rites of Durham (1903) 52 Thorowgh ye parler, a place for merchaunte to vtter ther waires.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Parloir, Parlour, in Nunneries, a little Room, or Closet, where People talk to the Nuns, thro' a Kind of Grated Window... Antiently, there were also Parlours in the Convents of Monks, where the Novices used to converse together, at the Hours of Recreation.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 421 A chat with us in the parlour.
1903 J. T. Fowler in Rites of Durham 238 The utter or outer Parlour, Locutorium, or Spekehouse, was usually on the western side of the cloister... There was always an inner parlour for more strictly monastic conversation.
1991 K. Armstrong Eng. Mystics 14th Cent. (BNC) 113 St Teresa of Avila complained bitterly of the perils of the parlour in her fashionable convent, where the nuns practically ran a salon.
2.
a. In a manor house, or large public building (as a town hall, college, etc.): a smaller room separate from the main hall, reserved for private conversation or conference.Now chiefly historical, except as retained in later use in specific applications, as banking parlour, a room in which a bank manager can talk confidentially with clients (also as bank parlour n. at bank n.3 Compounds 3); mayor's parlour, a room in a town hall reserved for the mayor's private use.
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the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating place > [noun] > dining-room
parlourc1384
cenaclea1400
triclinec1440
dining room?1576
dining hall1598
eating-room1613
triclinium1646
supper rooma1661
coffee-room1712
breakfast-room1732
salle-à-manger1762
mess-room1774
refreshment room1785
breakfast-parlour1802
noon-hall1828
dinner room1853
Speisesaal1871
diner1907
dinette1920
breakfast-nook1931
brunch bar1940
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > room by type of use > [noun] > sitting room
parlourc1384
street parlour1734
sitting room1763
keeping-room1771
room1795
voorhuis1822
voorkamer1827
lounge1881
sitkamer1897
sitter1899
sit1911
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room generally > [noun] > private or inner room > in a royal residence
privy chambera1382
parlourc1384
closet1447
c1384 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 231 (MED) The seyd Richard Wyllesdon Schall..byld vp-on the seyd Soyle..A parlour, kychyn, And boterye.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. x. 97 (MED) Elyng is þe halle vche daye in þe wyke Þere þe lorde ne þe lady liketh nouȝte to sytte; Now hath vche riche a reule to eten bi hym-selue In a pryue paloure [read parloure].
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) ii. 82 Two othere ladys sete, and she, Withinne a paved parlour [v.r. perlour].
1445 A. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 27 The parlour and the chapelle at Paston.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 27 Make in thi ship also parloures oone or two And houses of offyce mo.
1549–62 T. Sternhold & J. Hopkins Whole Bk. Psalms lv. 16 For mischiefe raigneth in their hall and parlour where they dwell.
1589–90 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) III. 382 A forme for the College parler.
1599 Acct.-bk. W. Wray in Antiquary (1896) 32 243 In the chamber over the hawle and parloure.
1610 Bp. J. Hall Common Apol. against Brownists xlii. 103 Extemporarie deuotions in your Parlors.
1635 G. Wither Coll. Emblemes 222 Hee that in his hall or parlour dines Which fret-worke roofes, or costly cedar lines.
c1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 76 He has a very good house and genteely fitted good Hall and parlour.
1721 Colonial Rec. N. Carolina 2 in C. R. Lounsbury Illustr. Gloss. Early Southern Archit. & Landscape (1994) 260 On Christmas Day the Governor came into the outer room or Hall and dined with the Company and..in the evening he desired the Company to go into the parlour where..there was a large bowl of punch made.
1798 G. Washington Writings (1893) XIV. 130 (note) Mr. Lear..informed me that a gentleman in the parlour below desired to see me.
1819 H. Hallam View Europe Middle Ages (ed. 2) III. ii. ix. 427 (note) The house consisted of a hall, parlour,..a napery, or linen room [etc.].
a1882 J. P. Quincy Figures of Past (1884) 367 He stood at one end of the low parlor of the President's house.
1951 H. Braun Introd. Eng. Mediaeval Archit. (1967) xiii. 238 With the decline of feudalism, we find the erstwhile storage space below the great chamber being converted into a ‘parlour’; a sort of private hall in which he could converse with his friends.
1974 B. Friel Freedom of City i. 45 As a matter of fact I'm stripped to the waist and drinking brandy in the Mayor's parlour.
1985 Times 29 Aug. 15/2 The question of higher base rates was beginning to surface in banking parlours.
2001 Oxoniensia 65 49 The quality of the furnishings listed in Joan Browne's inventory of 1624 for her parlour suggests that, in her eyes, the parlour was more important than the hall.
b. In a private house: a sitting room; esp. the main family living room, or the room reserved for entertaining guests (now somewhat archaic). Formerly also: †any room or chamber; a bedroom (obsolete).In early use denoting any room where a person could be private, and therefore not always clearly distinguishable from sense A. 2a. Often, before c1700, applied to a bedroom, but thereafter most commonly used of a sitting room. N.E.D. (1904) noted that parlour was in that period (i.e. the late 19th and early 20th cent.) the name given to ‘the ordinary sitting-room of the family, which, when more spacious and handsomely furnished, is usually called the drawing-room.’ Cent. Dict. (1890) recorded that ‘In the United States, where the word drawing-room is little used, parlor is the general term for the room used for the reception of guests’.In English regional use the word was formerly applied spec. to the inner or more private room of a two-roomed house, cottage, or small farmhouse, which was variously used (according to locality, affluence of household, etc.) as the living room of the family (as distinct from the kitchen), or as the ‘best room’ (as distinct from the ordinary living room).
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > room by type of use > [noun] > best room
chamber1644
front room1679
best room1719
fore-room1728
spence1786
parlour1825
speak-a-word room1825
1448 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) 36 (MED) Ye and y commyned therof the last hole day of my beyng at home at Exceter yn my parler.
c1450 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Durh.) v. 368 Fresshe parlours glazed bright as day.
?1484 Will of Margaret Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 387 My fetherbedde with sillour, curteyns, and tester in my parlour at Mauteby.
1595 in G. J. Piccope Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1860) II. 129 [To] permit my wife to have two parlers or other conveniente places to her use.
1597 in Inventories 1537–1756 (Invent. 14) One flockbed in the Parlour and a bolster, one hilling and a blanket and the bedstead.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 260 To haue, at the further end, a Winter, and a Summer Parler, both Faire.
1677 T. D'Urfey Madam Fickle ii. 14 I've led him into the Parler.
1717 T. Cave Let. 28 Feb. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. (1930) II. xxii. 48 Violett..is the only dogg suffered to bear the best Spaniell in England company in the Parlour.
1728 in Inventories 1537—1756 (Invent. 34) In the Parlour, one feather bed & furniture to the same.
1787 M. Cutler Jrnl. 8 July in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) I. 235 The Parlor, Drawing-room, and Dining-hall are in the second story.
1825 J. Mackinnon Messingham 25 (E.D.D.) The cottages had only a house and parlour, the parlour being used as a dormitory for the whole family, both male and female.
1858 R. W. Emerson Eloquence in Atlantic Monthly Sept. 385/1 One man is brought to the boiling point by the excitement of conversation in the parlor.
1886 J. Morley G. Eliot in Crit. Misc. III. 106 Jane Austen bore her part in the little world of the parlour that she described.
1920 S. Lewis Main St. xv. 187 Mrs. Erdstrom begged her to sit in the parlor, where there was a phonograph and an oak and leather davenport.
1951 Life 5 Feb. 43/1 Phonevision, or PV,..offers a way of bringing movies straight into the family parlor.
2000 R. Sterling World Food: Vietnam 67 All classes of people drink tea. Soldiers drink it in the field; fishermen on their boats; wealthy people in parlours.
c. A room used for dining or eating supper. Now rare.In early use overlapping with sense A. 2a, as a room off the hall where the master or mistress of a large house could eat, converse, etc., in private (cf. quots. c1400 at sense A. 2a, 1635 at sense A. 2a); later passing into A. 2b.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > room by type of use > [noun] > dining room
cenaclea1400
triclinec1440
parlour1526
dining room?1576
dining hall1598
eating-room1613
triclinium1646
supper rooma1661
coffee-room1712
salle-à-manger1762
mess-room1774
sala1774
noon-hall1828
dinner room1853
Speisesaal1871
diner1907
dinette1920
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Mark xiv. f. lxvjv He wyll shewe you a greate parlour, paved, and prepared.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 69v Neither could he wishe..a more galaunte parloure to eate in.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. iv. sig. D2 To the parler, where they vsed to suppe.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. Sam. ix. 22 Samuel therefore taking Saul and his seruant, brought them into the parlour... And Samuel sayd to the cooke: Geue the portion, which I gaue thee, [etc.].
1796 Hist. Ned Evans I. 199 In the parlour was a table elegantly covered, and a servant in a laced livery behind every chair.
1823 J. Rutter Delineations of Fonthill 63 The Oak Parlour was the only room for the service of dinner.
1869 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Folks (1870) xlv. 510 There was a splendid lunch laid out in the parlour, with all the old silver in muster.
1904 Ld. Aldenham Let. to Editor In my youth [sc. 1830–50] the room on the ground floor which is now called the Dining Room was always called the Parlour.
1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent ii. 52 She finished her dishing-up. The table was laid in the parlour.
2001 London Rev. Bks. 22 Feb. 17/1 Despite the stunning aroma of afang soup coming from the kitchen, Mrs Etong didn't bring the dinner into the parlour as usual.
d. figurative and in extended use. An inner area; a private sanctum.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room generally > [noun] > private or inner room
bowerc1000
chamber?c1225
privy chambera1382
closeta1387
closera1400
conclavea1400
wardrobea1400
cell?1440
garderobe?c1450
retreatc1500
parlour1561
cabinet1565
cabin1594
in-room?1615
recamera1622
sanctum sanctorum1707
adytum1800
snuggery1812
sulking-room1816
sanctum1819
anderoon1840
inner sanctum1843
thalamus1850
growlery1853
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. v. f. 6 He hath framed his parloures in the waters, that the cloudes are his chariottes.
1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon i. iv. 156 He had also discover'd that the Duke every afternoon us'd to play at Cards in the Parlour of his Tent.
1867 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood I. v. 104 Forgetful to entertain strangers, at least in the parlour of his heart.
1998 T. Lynch Still Life in Milford iii. 110 She sat in the chill parlor of her new widowhood remembering the bruises, the boozy gropings and sad truths.
3. A room in an inn or public house, more private than the taproom or saloon, where people may converse. Now chiefly archaic or historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking place > [noun] > tavern or public house > parlour or snug
parlour1631
box1691
grocery1806
snuggery1829
snug1838
snug1860
bar-parlour1876
beer-parlour1925
1631 B. Jonson New Inne iv. i. sig. E6v Bar. Doe they sing at me? Ior. They're reeling at it, in the parlour, now.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. vii. xi. 81 The Landlord having taken his Seat directly opposite to the Door of the Parlour, determined to keep Guard there the whole Night. View more context for this quotation
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 140 Had taken him into a back parlour in the Auberge, and treated him with a cup or two of the best wine in Picardy.
1835 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz (1836) 2nd Ser. 312 ‘You had better walk into the parlour, sir,’ said the little old landlord.
1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh II. 146 A private entrance..led to the back parlour or inner room.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 12 Apr. 7/2 A tavern consisted of three open rooms, freely inviting class distinctions—the saloon, the parlour, and the tap-room.
1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear i. iv. 53 In ten more [minutes] we were seated in the parlour of the inn and being treated to a rapid sketch of those events which have been outlined in the previous chapter.
1947 A. Vogt in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 242 Andy drove down to the pub himself to ring up the hospital... While the ring was going through they went into the pub parlour.
1991 M. Bragg Maid of Buttermere (BNC) 188 Lilac gloves, half-boots made of kid—she looked, as she sat rather apprehensively in the country inn parlour, as if she were waiting for Mr Gainsborough.
4.
a. Originally U.S. (in commercial use). A shop or business premises (originally one comfortably or lavishly furnished and decorated) which provides a particular service or commodity. Usually with distinguishing word, as beauty, beer, funeral, ice-cream, pizza parlour, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > other retail establishments
parlour1863
self-serve1918
while-you-wait1929
self-service1944
1863 Dawson's Daily Times & Union (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 13 June 4/5 (advt.) Ladies ige cream [sic] parlor! Has been enlarged and magnificently furnished in a style superior to any thing of the kind in this city.
1884 Milnor (Dakota Territory) Teller 27 June An ice cream parlor where the dudes and dudines sip..congealed milk and sugar.
1908 Harper's Weekly 24 Oct. 22/1 The ‘beauty parlors’ of a large department store. There are a number of booths divided off by wooden partitions.
1913 Collier's 25 Jan. 7/1 Along with them go the announcements of ‘massage parlors’ (an all-too-obvious euphemism), free whiskies, and other agencies of public injury.
1928 Daily Express 22 Oct. 1/3 The bodies of the boys will be kept in sealed caskets in an ‘undertaking parlour’ until the mother is well enough to attend the funeral.
1942 H. C. Bailey Dead Man's Shoes xxvi. 100 Pat's Parlour, a tea shop for holiday visitors.
1963 H. Garner in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 41 I tried a couple of beer parlours, but couldn't stand the noise and laughter.
1973 W. McCarthy Detail ii. 115 Stuart..went to the adjoining pizza parlour.
1986 Herald (Keswick & Lake District) 13 Sept. 1/4 The court heard that Foster knew Fell through a tattoo parlour that the postal worker ran in..Carlisle.
2001 Independent 29 Jan. (Review section) 1/3 It's set in a Welsh funeral parlour where the head of the family firm suffers from the unfortunate drawback of being terrified of dead bodies.
b. Short for milking parlour n. at milking n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > dairy farming > [noun] > milking > milking-parlour
white house1573
milking parlour1946
parlour1950
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. June 541/1 Near Davis [sc. in California] I visited some dairies using the ‘parlour’ system of milking.
1967 W. C. Harvey & H. Hill Milk: Production & Control (ed. 4) xiii. 224 Where milk pipe-lines are provided to transmit the milk directly to the dairy, as in parlours.
1993 Dairy Guide (Winnipeg) Apr. 14/1 (caption) A double-6 parallel, rapid-exit parlor speeds milking.
5. Perhaps: conversation, colloquy; a conference. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > conversation > [noun]
speechc900
talec1000
speaka1300
reasonc1300
speakinga1325
counsela1350
intercommuningc1374
dalliancec1400
communication1419
communancec1449
collocutiona1464
parlour?c1475
sermocination1514
commona1529
dialogue?1533
interlocutiona1534
discourse1545
discoursing1550
conference1565
purposea1572
talk1572
interspeech1579
conversationa1586
devising1586
intercourse1596
intercommunication1603
eclogue1604
commercing1610
communion1614
negocea1617
alloquy1623
confariation1652
gob1681
gab1761
commune1814
colloquy1817
conversing1884
cross-talk1887
bull session1920
rap1957
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 92v A parlowr, colloquium.
1579 (c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (Edinb.) 1005 in Shorter Poems (2003) 67 Vprais the Court and all the Parlour ceist.
B. adj. (attributive).
1. Designating a person, esp. someone prosperous or middle-class, who professes belief in but does not actively support a specified (frequently radical) political view or cause, as parlour Bolshevik, parlour communist, parlour patriot, parlour pink, parlour socialist, etc.; (hence also) designating the movement or view so espoused, as parlour Bolshevism, parlour socialism, etc. Cf. armchair adj. Now somewhat archaic.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > left > radical > professedly but not actively
parlour1797
1797 S. T. Coleridge Let. 6 Feb. (1956) I. 305 Most of our patriots are tavern & parlour Patriots, that will not avow their principles by any decisive action.
1910 Ann. Libr. Index 1909 273 (title) Parlour socialists.
1915 T. Dreiser Let. 26 Apr. in Lett. H. L. Mencken (1961) 68 I hold no brief for the parlor radical.
1918 T. Roosevelt in Metrop. Mag. June Parlor or pink-tea bolshevism dear to the hearts of so many..who like to think of themselves as intellectuals.
1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise ii. v. 290 ‘What are you,’ asked the big man, ‘one of these parlor Bolsheviks, one of these idealists?’
1922 R. Nevill Yesterday & Today i. 14 What may be called ‘Society Socialism’ is an entirely modern development, pretty well limited to England and America where the ‘Parlour Socialist’ has become recognized as a regular type.
1929 F. P. Gibbons Red Napoleon 67 Margot was more than a parlour pink; she was an ardent internationalist.
1938 G. T. Garratt Shadow of Swastika 201 Mr. Neville Chamberlain remained..invincible because of his backing amongst the very wealthy and influential parlour fascists outside.
1939 C. Isherwood Goodbye to Berlin 105 Wasn't I a bit of a sham..with my arty talk..and my newly-acquired parlour-socialism?
1954 A. Koestler Invisible Writing iii. 40 The most fashionable poet among the snobs and parlour-Communists of the period was Bertold Brecht.
1976 S. Hynes Auden Generation x. 367 The stock notion of the 'thirties writer as a New Country parlour-communist.
1998 Augusta Chron. (Georgia) (Nexis) 9 June a5 The two-bit parlor socialists who can't win a debate in wider society, but can easily impose their nonsense on a grade-fearing student audience.
2. Designating versions of games usually played outdoors, which have been adapted to a smaller scale for playing indoors. Cf. parlour game n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [adjective]
parlour1872
1872 A. Elliot Within Doors i. 45 Numerous Parlour Games have recently been introduced... Such are Parlour Croquet,..Parlour Billiards, [etc.].
1881 Cassell's Bk. In-door Amusem. 74 The game described in this book as German Balls is sometimes also known as Parlour Bowls.
1887 E. B. Custer Tenting on Plains xv. 501 A game of parlor croquet was proposed.
1899 M. Beerbohm More 140 Playing parlour-golf with his only child.
1901 Stationer, Printer & Fancy Trades' Reg. 1 June 322 (advt.) Ring Boards. Dart Boards. Parlour Cricket.
1987 Business Jrnl.-Portland (Oregon) (Nexis) 19 Jan. 1 Awaiting Rau's words on the identity and value of their possessions, whether fine china handed down through generations, or a parlor croquet set picked up at a garage sale.
2002 United Press Internat. Newswire (Nexis) 9 Apr. (Entertainment section) Their good ole' boy husbands, once college roommates, play their monthly boozy game of parlor golf in the living room.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.† parlour servant n. Obsolete
parlour art n.
ΚΠ
1866 in D. R. Locke Andy's Trip West 40 (advt.) Among the contents will be found chapters upon Parlor Arts and Ornaments.
1900 Daily News 17 Apr. 6/3 She..drew elegantly in pastels, did shell-work, and..invented a parlour art—cutting out flowers in paper.
2003 Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) (Nexis) 28 Jan. (Features section) 19 Young women in the 19th century simply did not have careers... It was acceptable to be talented in the so-called parlor arts like sewing, embroidery, and occasional painting.
parlour carpet n.
ΚΠ
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey II. iii. viii. 126 Knocking down the back kitchen door, spitting on the parlour carpet, and tumbling the maid's head about.
1853 E. C. Gaskell Ruth III. v. 144 The final and unmendable wearing-out of the parlour carpet, which there was no spare money to replace.
1993 P. Marshall Amer. Princess (BNC) She had..thrown yesterday's damp tea-leaves on to the parlour carpet.
parlour-casement n.
ΚΠ
1820 C. A. Southey Ellen Fitzarthur v. 112 The moon's pale rays, Just on the parlour-casement fell.
1904 N.E.D. at Parlour Parlour-casement.
parlour cat n.
ΚΠ
1859 N. P. Willis Convalescent 182 Not for all the accomplishments and belongings of a parlor cat, could the welcome have been more genial and complete.
1934 M. V. Hughes London Child of Seventies x. 113 The parlour cats were Persians, sat on laps and best chairs.
2002 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 19 Mar. (Suburban section) 3 For many months his wife fed all the local strays and even those parlor cats that escaped to slum for midnight snacks.
parlour door n.
ΚΠ
1427–8 in J. A. Kingdon Arch. Worshipful Company of Grocers (1886) I. 168 (MED) Item, paid to the Glazieres for Glazing of the parlour and tresance Withouten the parlour dore, Summa xiij li.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccixv Streyght waies cometh one of the women to the parlour dore.
c1665 Lady Mary Warwick in C. Fell-Smith M. Rich Countess of Warwick (1901) 325 Upon the phyllerea hedge that grew before the great parlour door.
1754 Connoisseur No. 33. 136 Close by the parlour door there hung a pair of stag's horns.
1835 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz (1837) 2nd Ser. 168 Mr Jennings Rodolph..went behind the parlour-door and gave his celebrated imitations.
2003 Irish News (Nexis) 18 Aug. 6 The bomb..struck the skirting on the opposite side of the room and rebounded through the open parlour door into the hall.
parlour fire n.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) v. ii. 107 They sit conferring by the Parler fire . View more context for this quotation
1797 J. Tweddell Remains (1815) xxxii. 171 The time that you and I, my good Mother, used to prose over the parlour-fire, till you drove me away to bed.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth iv, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 110 Simon Glover..placed him in a chair by his parlour fire.
1988 D. Madden Birds of Innocent Wood iv. 70 They sit talking by the parlour fire.
parlour novel n.
ΚΠ
1875 Scribner's Monthly Oct. 681/1 A really interesting, though sentimental, parlor-novel, written in fluent verse.
1999 Boundary 2 26 193 Just as Edward W. Said can show how the micropolitics of a Victorian parlor novel depends on the British in India.
parlour pastime n.
ΚΠ
1857 (title) Parlour pastimes for the young: consisting of pantomime and dialogue charades, fireside games, riddles, [etc.].
1876 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 65 And ever, if bound here hardest home, You've parlour-pastime left.
2001 Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) 3 May d1 If needlework is no longer a genteel parlor pastime, neither is it a lost art.
parlour politics n.
ΚΠ
1940 H. G. Wells New World Order §1. 18 This is no small affair of parlour politics we have to consider.
1984 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 1 Mar. (Internat. section) 11 But how can elections be contested, when you've banned all political activity, forced the parties into little more than parlor politics.
ΚΠ
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Parlour seruaunte or trimmer, triclinarius.
1858 A. Trollope Three Clerks III. xiv. 252 The grand nurse was now gone, and the fag was promoted to the various offices of nurse, lady's-maid, and parlour servant.
parlour sofa n.
ΚΠ
1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. xiii. 304 By evening she seemed greatly exhausted; yet no arguments could persuade her to return to that apartment, and I had to arrange the parlour sofa for her bed, till another room could be prepared.
1918 W. Cather My Ántonia ii. xv. 283 I found a shawl and an overcoat on the hatrack, lay down on the parlor sofa, and in spite of my hurts, went to sleep.
2003 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 8 Aug. e i. 1/3 He attempts to nurse the ailing Babe, curled up on his parlor sofa, back to good health.
parlour table n.
ΚΠ
a1644 F. Quarles Shepheards Oracles (1646) viii. 94 When your crosse-garted knees fall down before Your Parlour-Table, what doe you adore?
1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 3 56 This book..has lain for exhibition on the parlour-table of all our polished families.
1998 Sunday Tel. 25 Jan. (Review section) 31/7 The embroidered antimacassars will be returned to the backs of her unlovely chairs, the china arranged on the clothed parlour table, [etc.].
parlour wall n.
ΚΠ
1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) xii. 307 The grate into the speak-room is part of that parlour wall.
1889 Cent. Mag. Apr. 888/2 Frank was taking down his pipe-rack from the space it had decorated on the parlor wall.
1985 A. Blair Tea at Miss Cranston's xxiv. 203 Then it was all explained to me at home that it was the Queen that had died, that's picture was up on the parlour wall.
parlour window n.
ΚΠ
1428 in J. A. Kingdon Arch. Worshipful Company of Grocers (1886) II. 185 Also Payed for þe New vynez þt is set byfore þe parlour wyndow.
1678 T. Porter French Conjurer v. 34 My Parlour-window has been sweetly visited between you; but I'll stop your peep-hole.
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Cock & Fox in Fables 224 Her Parlor-Window stuck with Herbs around, Of sav'ry Smell.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 2nd Ser. 120 There was a neatly written bill in the parlour window.
1994 Vibe Nov. 75/1 In white shorts and white oxford shirt, she stares out her parlor window.
C2. † parlour cattle-car n. Obsolete a railway car for cattle providing more than usual comfort for the animals travelling in it (see quot. 1881).Apparently an isolated use.† parlour child n. Obsolete a child who receives more attention than is usual from his or her parents, esp. an only child.† parlour preacher n. Obsolete a preacher who preaches to a private congregation.† parlour-sermon n. Obsolete a sermon preached to a private congregation.† parlour trimmer n. Obsolete a domestic servant.† parlour-worship n. Obsolete worship by a small congregation, a private service or religion.
parlour boarder n. now historical a boarding-school pupil who lives with the family of the principal and has other privileges not shared by the ordinary boarders.
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society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > boarder
boarder1530
parlour boarder1768
weekly boarder1800
resident1843
ressie1982
1768 J. Frere Let. 1 Apr. in John Norton & Sons (1968) 44 Your Cousin Baylor..is with Mr. Chalmers as a Parlour Boarder;..we all thought an Academy much the properest place for him.
1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey France & Spain I. ii. 12 The Prieure of this convent..had received, as parlour boarders, some English ladies of very suspicious characters.
1812 Theatr. Inquisitor 1 211 I am a parlour boarder at Mrs. Twizzle's school.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xx. 176 Surely it must be Miss Swartz, the parlour boarder.
1997 Manawatu Evening Standard 3 May 9 Harriet Smith, a pretty, docile, innocent 17-year-old, a parlour boarder in the neighbouring village.
parlour car n. U.S. a railway carriage more luxuriously furnished than a standard carriage, esp. one with comfortable movable chairs.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > carriage designed to carry passengers > other types of passenger carriage
caravan1821
private car1826
Jim Crow car1835
ladies' car1841
saloon car or carriage1842
palace car1844
ladies' carriage1847
parliamentary carriage1849
parlour car1859
composite carriage1868
Pullman1869
observation car1872
first1873
compo1878
bogie carriage1880
chair-car1880
club car1893
corridor carriage1893
tourist-car1895
birdcage1900
dog box1905
corridor coach1911
vista-dome1945
Stolypin1970
1859 Harper's Mag. June 9/2 As they approached the steps of the parlor car their progress was arrested by a black puddle left by the recent rains.
1977 A. Cooke Six Men vi. 187 We went off to the train in much better spirits, settled in two dumpy elbow chairs of the parlour car and were soon sliding under the river.
1995 Hongkong Standard 26 Aug. (Financial Review section) 9/3 Cruise ships that dock at Skagway supply about half the 140,000 passengers who travel in its 1890s-vintage parlour cars each year.
ΚΠ
1881 Chicago Times 30 Apr. The first parlor cattle-car left to-night for New York... The cattle are in separate compartments, and are to be bedded, watered, and groomed on the cars.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > only child
only child1655
parlour child1874
only1931
singleton1931
1874 Temple Bar Oct. 346 Such an only child used to be called ‘a parlour child’, to denote that there was more intercourse between child and parent than exists in a ‘nursery child’, to whom the nurse seems his natural guide and ruler.
parlour floor n. the floor of a parlour; the floor or storey of a house which contains the parlour.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > floor > [noun] > types of
parlour floor1441
causey1481
pediment1747
working floor1747
parquet1814
parquet floor1819
subfloor1838
straight-joint floor1842
parquet flooring1845
working floor1850
dallage1856
nightingale floor1914
open floor1932
floating floor1934
1441 in B. Marsh Rec. Worshipful Company Carpenters (1914) II. 6 (MED) Itm., payed for teryng and dawbyng of the parlowr flowre, iij s. iiij d.
1665 in D. Yaxley Researcher's Gloss. Hist. Documents E. Anglia (2003) 148 27 deales for the paller flore at 16 penc a deal.
1780 Mrs. Harris in Private Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 453 We illuminated the parlour floor and the drawing-room floor.
1895 T. Hardy Jude iv. iii. 278 The burghers walking past upon the pavement..which was two or three feet above the level of the parlour floor.
1985 New Yorker 16 Sept. 44/2 The parlor floor had been turned into a spacious open room with hexagonal tiles on the floor.
parlour game n. (originally) a version of an outdoor game adapted for playing in the parlour; (later) any game suitable for playing indoors, esp. a word game (also in extended use).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > parlour and party games > [noun]
jeu de société1793
parlour game1854
party game1929
1854 Bk. of Parlour Games 3 A Manual of Parlour Games has long been a desideratum.
1872 A. Elliot Within Doors i. 45 Numerous Parlour Games have recently been introduced... Such are Parlour Croquet,..Parlour Billiards, [etc.].
1894 I. Zangwill in Critic (N.Y.) 24 Nov. 342/2 In the parlor-game of ‘Consequences’.
1923 W. de la Mare Riddle 127 She talks to you; but it's all make-believe. It's all a ‘parlour game’.
1995 Guardian 5 Oct. ii. 7/4 If one popular literary parlour game is naming forgotten Nobellists, a second is speculating about the next winner.
parlour girl n. U.S. (originally) a parlourmaid; (later) a prostitute.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > serving food > [noun] > server of food > as servant > woman
Phillis1589
Hebe1606
table maid1828
parlourmaid1836
parlour girl1858
waitress1875
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute
meretrixOE
whoreOE
soiled dovea1250
common womanc1330
putec1384
bordel womanc1405
putaina1425
brothelc1450
harlot?a1475
public womanc1510
naughty pack?1529
draba1533
cat1535
strange woman1535
stew1552
causey-paikera1555
putanie?1566
drivelling1570
twigger1573
punka1575
hackney1579
customer1583
commodity1591
streetwalker1591
traffic1591
trug1591
hackster1592
polecat1593
stale1593
mermaid1595
medlar1597
occupant1598
Paphian1598
Winchester goose1598
pagan1600
hell-moth1602
aunt1604
moll1604
prostitution1605
community1606
miss1606
night-worm1606
bat1607
croshabell1607
prostitute1607
pug1607
venturer1607
nag1608
curtal1611
jumbler1611
land-frigate1611
walk-street1611
doll-common1612
turn-up1612
barber's chaira1616
commonera1616
public commonera1616
trader1615
venturea1616
stewpot1616
tweak1617
carry-knave1623
prostibule1623
fling-dusta1625
mar-taila1625
night-shadea1625
waistcoateera1625
night trader1630
coolera1632
meretrician1631
painted ladya1637
treadle1638
buttock1641
night-walker1648
mob?1650
lady (also girl, etc.) of the game1651
lady of pleasure1652
trugmullion1654
fallen woman1659
girlc1662
high-flyer1663
fireship1665
quaedama1670
small girl1671
visor-mask1672
vizard-mask1672
bulker1673
marmalade-madam1674
town miss1675
town woman1675
lady of the night1677
mawks1677
fling-stink1679
Whetstone whore1684
man-leech1687
nocturnal1693
hack1699
strum1699
fille de joie1705
market-dame1706
screw1725
girl of (the) town1733
Cytherean1751
street girl1764
monnisher1765
lady of easy virtue1766
woman (also lady) of the town1766
kennel-nymph1771
chicken1782
stargazer1785
loose fish1809
receiver general1811
Cyprian1819
mollya1822
dolly-mop1834
hooker1845
charver1846
tail1846
horse-breaker1861
professional1862
flagger1865
cocodette1867
cocotte1867
queen's woman1871
common prostitute1875
joro1884
geisha1887
horizontal1888
flossy1893
moth1896
girl of the pavement1900
pross1902
prossie1902
pusher1902
split-arse mechanic1903
broad1914
shawl1922
bum1923
quiff1923
hustler1924
lady of the evening1924
prostie1926
working girl1928
prostisciutto1930
maggie1932
brass1934
brass nail1934
mud kicker1934
scupper1935
model1936
poule de luxe1937
pro1937
chromo1941
Tom1941
pan-pan1949
twopenny upright1958
scrubber1959
slack1959
yum-yum girl1960
Suzie Wong1962
mattress1964
jamette1965
ho1966
sex worker1971
pavement princess1976
parlour girl1979
crack whore1990
1858 W. J. Hoppin Lady of Bed Chamber (front matter) Sally, the parlor girl: Miss Tree.
1892 New Eng. Mag. June 490/1 ‘I wish you'd speak to the parlor-girl, sir’, said she; ‘she keeps disturbin' the drawin'-room out of the way the furnishers fixed it.’
1979 Washington Post (Nexis) 10 Feb. c1 The young women who supply the porn merchants with their indispensable commodity are epitomized by Nikki, a small-time hardcore actress and ‘parlor girl’.
1996 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (Nexis) 4 Dec. (Community Close-up section) 3 If you've ever dreamed of being a gunslinger, gangster or Victorian parlor girl, now you can be one.
parlour house n. (a) a house having a parlour; (b) U.S. slang an expensive type of brothel.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > brothel
houseOE
bordelc1300
whorehousec1330
stew1362
bordel housec1384
stewc1384
stivec1386
stew-house1436
bordelryc1450
brothel house1486
shop?1515
bains1541
common house1545
bawdy-house1552
hothouse1556
bordello1581
brothela1591
trugging house1591
trugging place1591
nunnery1593
vaulting-house1596
leaping house1598
Pickt-hatch1598
garden house1606
vaulting-school1606
flesh-shambles1608
whore-sty1621
bagnioa1640
public house1640
harlot-house1641
warrena1649
academy1650
call house1680
coney burrow1691
case1699
nanny-house1699
house of ill reputea1726
smuggling-ken1725
kip1766
Corinth1785
disorderly house1809
flash-house1816
dress house1823
nanny-shop1825
house of tolerance1842
whore shop1843
drum1846
introducing house1846
khazi1846
fast house1848
harlotry1849
maison de tolérance1852
knocking-shop1860
lupanar1864
assignation house1870
parlour house1871
hook shop1889
sporting house1894
meat house1896
massage parlour1906
case house1912
massage establishment1921
moll-shop1923
camp1925
notch house1926
creep joint1928
slaughterhouse1928
maison de convenance1930
cat-house1931
Bovril1936
maison close1939
joy-house1940
rib joint1940
gaff1947
maison de passe1960
rap parlour1973
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > house of specific shape or style
hall-house1467
longhouse1643
bungalow1676
single housea1684
tower-house1687
villa1755
box1773
cottage orné1774
villarette1792
mews1805
cottage1808
terrace house1817
casita1822
villa dwelling1833
villa residence1833
box-house1846
six-roomer1853
terrace1854
tembe1860
moat house1871
parlour house1871
row house1871
salt-box1876
trullo1898
townhouse1900
colonial1903
semi1912
Cape Cod1916
bungaloid1927
semi-detached1928
ranchette1938
solar house1946
rambler1947
rancher1950
ranch1951
tunnel-back1957
sidesplit1958
two-up-and-two-downer1958
two-up two-down1958
semi-det1960
A-frame1963
townhouse1965
tri-level1965
link house1968
split1970
dormer bungalow1977
1871 N.Y. Times 6 Apr. 6/2 (advt.) For sale at a sacrifice..brown-stone, black-walnut parlor house.
1924 in A. Henderson & L. Maddock Housing Acts (1930) 431 Appropriate normal rents may be fixed for different classes of houses, e.g. parlour and non-parlour.
1975 J. Gores Hammett (1976) v. 38 The parlor houses, cribs, brothels and bagnios had disappeared..and a thousand prostitutes had been thrown out of work.
2003 Irish Independent (Nexis) 30 May Two sisters,..searching for a two bedroom house in Dublin... As is the case with all parlour houses, the front room or parlour room is quite small.
parlour magic n. now rare conjuring tricks, etc., performed in or suited to a parlour.
ΚΠ
1838 (title) Parlour magic.
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxii. 276 Merlin is a very passable artist, but only in the parlor-magic line.
1995 Spectator (Hamilton, Ont.) (Nexis) 12 Dec. d1 Hooton,..caught the magic bug when he was 7 and marveled at his dad's friend doing card tricks. The retired executive has been doing parlor magic ever since.
parlour man n. now historical a male domestic servant; = house parlourman n. at house n.1 and int. Compounds 10 (the sense in quot. 1851 is uncertain).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [noun] > parlour servant
parlour trimmer1552
parlour man1851
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lvi. 298 Beale's..frontispiece, boats attacking Sperm Whales, though no doubt calculated to excite the civil scepticism of some parlour men, is admirably correct..in its general effect.
1922 Glasgow Herald 31 Oct. 7/1 The men who have disappointed as ‘housemen’ and ‘parlourmen’ are for the most part ex-Service men..prepared to do anything to get a job.
1994 New Statesman & Society (Nexis) 18 Nov. 20 The Boy Scout movement made an extraordinary intervention in this area in the 1930s with the Rover Scout Training and Employment Scheme. It proposed to turn young, single unemployed men into parlour men, kitchen men, cooks, [etc.].
parlour match n. U.S. (now historical) a match containing hardly any sulphur, which can be struck on any surface.
ΚΠ
1864 Sci. Amer. 26 Nov. 350/3 (advt.) Diamond parlor matches. These Matches are the best in the world, sure fire, without sulphur, no disagreeable smell.
1927 Scribner's Mag. Mar. 326/2 There is only one good match—that is the big, soft-nosed parlor-match that will light on anything.
parlour melodeon n. U.S. (now rare) a kind of parlour organ.
ΚΠ
1871 Manufacturer & Builder Dec. 5/2 One of Mason & Hamlin's unrivaled parlor melodeons; cost $50.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) ix. 334 The men were buying buggies again, the women parlor melodeons, houses and homes were going up.
1926 World's Work Sept. 590/1 The British Agent of an American parlor melodeon concern.
1951 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 30 Nov. 13/4 There is one variety of real organ that plays when pumped by the feet like the old style parlor melodeon.
parlour organ n. originally U.S. (now historical) a reed organ suitable for a private room, popular in Victorian times.
ΚΠ
1844 Catholic World Sept. 740 To manipulate the melodeon or parlor organ..was considered the proper thing for Sunday.
1943 A. G. Powell I can go Home Again 96 There was an ordinary parlor organ, but on the days in which Old Lady McCan..attended services the organ in the Baptist Church could not be used.
1996 Amer. Hist. Rev. 101 250/2 Jessica H. Foy examines the changes in musical furniture, from the nineteenth-century parlor organ to piano, for classical and then popular song.
parlour palm n. (a) an aspidistra (now rare); (b) a dwarf fan palm, Chamaedorea (or Collinia) elegans, native to Mexico and Guatemala and popular as a house plant.
ΚΠ
1904 Amateur Gardener's Diary 145 Aspidistra (Parlour Palm), one of the hardiest of indoor plants, as it will survive dust and even the fumes of gas.
1978 Washington Post (Nexis) 6 Jan. d12 Parlor palm (Collinia elegans).
1987 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 1 Mar. 91/7 The parlor palm or Chamadorea [sic] Elegans is still one of the toughest indoor palms on the market.
2003 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 5 Oct. (Features section) Edwardian homes were not complete without a graceful parlour palm with elegant fronds. These willowy palms are still popular today.
parlour pew n. now historical a pew in a church furnished like a small parlour and usually occupied by the most important family in the parish.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > furniture > seat > pew > [noun] > private
pulpitc1390
closetc1400
pewc1400
family pew1747
pew bench1850
parlour pew1896
1896 Daily News 30 May 8/5 The village church, lately in possession of a ‘squire's pew’, carpeted, with fireplace, chairs, and tables; a snuggery wherein the great man snored unobserved,..now the parlour pew is gone.
1999 Leicester Mercury (Nexis) 3 Aug. 4 Larger ‘parlour pews’ for the high status families..sometimes replaced the Chantry Chapels and were often furnished with curtains, a fireplace, carpets, upholstered seats and in some churches, a private entrance into the church.
parlour piece n. a small-scale entertainment suitable for performance in a parlour.
ΚΠ
a1856 J. G. Percival Poet. Wks. (1859) II. 155 Bringing conceptions only not divine To the scant compass of a parlor piece.
2003 Herald Express (Torquay) (Nexis) 6 June (Features section) 10 This production..took what was previously staged as a musty parlour piece and turned it into a coruscating critique of social complacency.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > preacher > [noun] > private
parlour preacher1589
1589 ‘Pasquill of England’ Returne of Pasquill sig. Bi In the tippe of the tongue of some blind Parlor-preacher.
1638 in J. Maidment Bk. Sc. Pasquils (1868) 40 From corner-creeping parlour preachers..Almighty God deliver us!
1829 W. Mason in J. Sabin Catal. of Bks., Engravings, & Misc. Articles of Late John Allan 153 (title) The parlour preacher.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > preaching > [noun] > instance of > preached by parlour-preacher
parlour-sermon1646
1646 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple 130 His Parlour-Sermons rather were Those to the Eye, then to the Eare.
parlour skate n. now historical a roller-skate which can be used indoors.
ΚΠ
1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 22 Dec. 314/2 The Sublime and the Ridiculous. Old Father Christmas trying to get up-stairs on Parlor Skates.
1897 Harper's Mag. Jan. 281/2 The second class of visitors skim through the galleries and the churches of Rome as if on parlor-skates.
1998 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 19 Sept. b6 One simple form of the new [roller] skates [was]..‘nothing more than a stock of wood (a foot-rest) leather-bound and brass-tipped at heel and toe, and carried on four small wheels’... Another name for them was ‘parlour skates’.
parlour social n. North American (now historical) a social gathering held in someone's home as a benefit, (in later use) esp. = house rent party n. at house rent n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > fund-raising events > [noun] > rent party
parlour social1883
house party1923
house rent party1925
rent party1925
stomp1926
boogie1929
shake1946
skiffle1946
1883 Manitoba Daily Free Press 29 Jan. 2/1 A parlour social was given in the C.M. parsonage on the evening of Tuesday last.
1924 (title of record) Parlor social de luxe.
1999 New Republic 22 Nov. 31/3 Armstrong's..sessions..became the model for a truly indigenous American chamber music—the actual venue..being the rent party and other parlor socials.
parlour trick n. (a) (in plural) society arts or accomplishments; (b) an amusing trick or pastime to entertain house guests.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > other performances > [noun]
jest1592
entremet1766
parlour trick1866
quête1903
Gesamtkunstwerk1939
mixed media1945
1866 in T. C. Haliburton Sayings & Doings Samuel Slick 269 (advt.) Parlor tricks with cards. Containing Explanations of all the Tricks and Deceptions with Playing Cards ever invented.
1887 Littell's Living Age 7 May 359/2 This looks much like the housemaid practice exalted to parlor tricks.
1918 D. Parker in Vanity Fair (N.Y.) May 49/1 An ‘intimate revue’, a form of entertainment in which each member of the cast gets up and does his little parlor tricks and calls it an evening.
1964 M. Clive Day of Reckoning viii. 73 Parlour tricks, such as making cocked hats out of newspaper or paper boats from half-sheets of writing paper.
1996 M. Kingwell Dreams Millennium viii. 342 The proofs succeed, but only at the cost of an intellectual parlour trick that offends a sense of logical integrity.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [noun] > parlour servant
parlour trimmer1552
parlour man1851
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Parlour seruaunte or trimmer, triclinarius.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > kinds of worship > [noun] > private
parlour-worship1623
1623 T. Scott High-waies of God 72 He will haue a parlor-worship, a religion by himselfe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.?c1225