Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Bower

Bo′wer

,
Noun.
[From
Bow
,
Verb.
&
Noun.
]
1.
One who bows or bends.
2.
(Naut.)
An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.
3.
A muscle that bends a limb, esp. the arm.
[Obs.]
His rawbone arms, whose mighty brawned
bowers

Were wont to rive steel plates and helmets hew.
Spenser.
Best bower
,
Small bower
.
See
the Note under Anchor
.

Bow′er

(bou′ẽr)
,
Noun.
[G.
bauer
a peasant. So called from the figure sometimes used for the knave in cards. See
Boor
.]
One of the two highest cards in the pack commonly used in the game of euchre.
Right bower
,
the knave of the trump suit, the highest card (except the “Joker”) in the game.
–
Left bower
,
the knave of the other suit of the same color as the trump, being the next to the right bower in value.
–
Best bower
or
Joker
,
in some forms of euchre and some other games, an extra card sometimes added to the pack, which takes precedence of all others as the highest card.

Bow′er

,
Noun.
[OE.
bour
,
bur
, room, dwelling, AS.
būr
, fr. the root of AS.
būan
to dwell; akin to Icel.
būr
chamber, storehouse, Sw.
būr
cage, Dan.
buur
, OHG.
pūr
room, G.
bauer
cage,
bauer
a peasant. √97] Cf.
Boor
,
Byre
.]
1.
Anciently, a chamber; a lodging room; esp., a lady’s private apartment.
Give me my lute in bed now as I lie,
And lock the doors of mine unlucky
bower
.
Gascoigne.
2.
A rustic cottage or abode; poetically, an attractive abode or retreat.
Shenstone. B. Johnson.
3.
A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees or vines, etc., twined together; an arbor; a shady recess.

Bow′er

,
Verb.
T.
To embower; to inclose.
Shak.

Bow′er

,
Verb.
I.
To lodge.
[Obs.]
Spenser.

Bow′er

,
Noun.
[From
Bough
, cf.
Brancher
.]
(Falconry)
A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Bower

BOW'ER

,
Noun.
[from bow.] An anchor carried at the bow of a ship. There are generally two bowers, called first and second, great and little, or best and small.

BOW'ER

,
Noun.
1.
A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees bent and twined together. It differs from arbor in that it may be round or square, whereas an arbor is long and arched.
2.
A bed-chamber; any room in a house except the hall.
3.
A country seat; a cottage.
4.
A shady recess; a plantation for shade.

BOW'ER

,
Verb.
T.
To embower to inclose.

BOW'ER

,
Verb.
I.
To lodge.

Definition 2024

Bower

Bower

See also: bower

English

Proper noun

Bower

  1. A surname​.

bower

bower

See also: Bower

English

Noun

bower ‎(plural bowers)

  1. A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
    • Gascoigne
      Give me my lute in bed now as I lie, / And lock the doors of mine unlucky bower.
  2. (literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shenstone to this entry?)
  3. A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 1
      […] say that thou overheard'st us,
      And bid her steal into the pleached bower,
      Where honey-suckles, ripen'd by the sun,
      Forbid the sun to enter; […]
    • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict:
      […] belts of thin white mist streaked the brown plough land in the hollow where Appleby could see the pale shine of a winding river. Across that in turn, meadow and coppice rolled away past the white walls of a village bowered in orchards, […]
  4. (ornithology) A large structure made of grass and bright objects, used by the bower bird during courtship displays.
Synonyms
Translations

Verb

bower ‎(third-person singular simple present bowers, present participle bowering, simple past and past participle bowered)

  1. To embower; to enclose.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  2. (obsolete) To lodge.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From Middle English boueer, from Old English būr, ġebūr ‎(“freeholder of the lowest class, peasant, farmer”) and Middle Dutch bouwer ‎(“farmer, builder, peasant”); both from Proto-Germanic *būraz ‎(“dweller”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- ‎(“to dwell”). Cognate with German Bauer ‎(“peasant, builder”), Dutch boer, buur, and Albanian burrë ‎(“man, husband”). See boor, neighbor.

Noun

bower ‎(plural bowers)

  1. A peasant; a farmer.

Etymology 3

From German Bauer.

Noun

bower ‎(plural bowers)

  1. Either of the two highest trumps in euchre.
Derived terms

Etymology 4

From the bow of a ship

Noun

bower ‎(plural bowers)

  1. (nautical) A type of ship's anchor, carried at the bow.
  2. One who bows or bends.
  3. One who plays any of several bow instruments, such as the musical bow or diddley bow.
  4. A muscle that bends a limb, especially the arm.
    • Spenser
      His rawbone arms, whose mighty brawned bowers / Were wont to rive steel plates and helmets hew.
Derived terms

Etymology 5

From bough, compare brancher.

Noun

bower ‎(plural bowers)

  1. (obsolete, falconry) A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest.

Etymology

From Old English būr, from Proto-Germanic *būraz. Cognate with German Bauer ‎(“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (Danish bur, Swedish bur ‎(“cage”)).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /baʊ.əɹ/, /baʊəɹ/
  • Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ), -aʊə(ɹ)

Similar Results