bower

== English == === Pronunciation === Etymologies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7: (UK) IPA(key): /baʊ.əɹ/, /baʊəɹ/ Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ), -aʊə(ɹ) Etymology 6: (UK) IPA(key): /bəʊ.əɹ/, /bəʊəɹ/ Rhymes: -əʊə(ɹ) === Etymology 1 === 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). ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle. (literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat. A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods. (ornithology) A large structure made of grass, twigs, etc., and decorated with bright objects, used by male bower birds during courtship displays. ===== Alternative forms ===== bowre (obsolete) ===== Synonyms ===== boudoir ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== bower (third-person singular simple present bowers, present participle bowering, simple past and past participle bowered) To embower; to enclose. (obsolete) To lodge. ===== Derived terms ===== === 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-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būraz (“dweller”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to dwell”). Cognate with German Bauer (“peasant, farmer”), Dutch boer, buur, and Albanian burrë (“man, husband”). Doublet of bauer, Boer, and boor. More at neighbour. ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) A peasant; a farmer. === Etymology 3 === From German Bauer. A doublet of etymology 2 and of the German-origin surname Bauer. ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) Either of the two highest trumps in the card games euchre and five hundred (where the joker is omitted). ===== Derived terms ===== best bower left bower right bower === Etymology 4 === From the bow of a ship +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) (nautical) A type of ship's anchor, carried at the bow. ===== Derived terms ===== best bower bower anchor small bower === Etymology 5 === From bow (verb) +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) One who bows or bends. A muscle that bends a limb, especially the arm. === Etymology 6 === From bow (noun) +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) One who plays any of several bow instruments, such as the musical bow or diddley bow. ===== Derived terms ===== diddley bower === Etymology 7 === From bough +‎ -er, compare brancher. ==== Alternative forms ==== bougher ==== Noun ==== bower (plural bowers) (falconry) A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest. === See also === Bower Ashton === References === “bower”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === bowre