bower en · NOUN · etymology 1
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).
Meanings
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A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
Rosa refused to return to the lair of the raper, but was induced to give Tudy what his mother described as ‘his last bit of happiness’ in a bower hastily got ready at Montrose, the La Plante mansion on Greenock Heights.
1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 373:Give me my lute in bed now as I lie, / And lock the doors of mine unlucky bower.
c. 1572, George Gascoigne, A Lady being both wronged by false suspect, and also wounded by the durance of hir husband, doth thus bewray hir grief.:
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(literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.
While friends arrived in circles gay, To visit Damon's bower
1748, William Shenstone, to William Lyttleton Esq.:A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:
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A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods.
[…]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;[…]
1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:The entire town mated together, in the leafy bowers that had sprung up among the washing-machines and television sets in the shopping mall, on the settees and divans by the furniture store, in the tropical paradises of the suburban gardens.
1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 30:That night Tarzan built a snug little bower high among the swaying branches of a giant tree, and there the tired girl slept, while in a crotch beneath her the ape-man curled, ready, even in sleep, to protect her.
1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 214:The branches met overhead in a kind of bower and the three cops stood in the shade and studied the roughcast gable of the cottage, maybe fifty yards on up the hill.
2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 444:
- A large structure made of grass, twigs, etc., and decorated with bright objects, used by male bower birds during courtship displays.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| bowers | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| bowre | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic |
Deriveds
bowerland · bower vine · bowery · bowerwoman · bowerless · bridal bower · Bower Ashton · Bowers Gifford · virgin's bower · lady's bower · bowerlet
Synonyms
Translations (50)
cs besídka (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · mk будоа́р (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · pl buduar (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · eo laŭbo (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · ga lúibín coille (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · de Kemenate (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · uk будуа́р (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · la trichila (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · fi budoaari (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · hu budoár (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · pl alkierz (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · enm bour (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · mk се́ница (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · el μπουντουάρ (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · bg беседка ((ornithology) A large structure made of grass and bright objects) · enm bour ((literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage) · cy deildy (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · de Landhaus ((literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage) · de Frauengemach (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · bg беседка (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · de Laube ((ornithology) A large structure made of grass and bright objects) · de Landhäuschen ((literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage) · ru будуа́р (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · da boudoir (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · sv budoar (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · hi निकुंज (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · ckb کەپر (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · el αναδενδράδα (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · uk курі́нь (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · he סֻכָּה (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · bg будоар (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · de Boudoir (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · cs loubí (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · el κληματαριά (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · de schattiges Plätzchen (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · hu lak ((literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage) · eo buduaro (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · de Laube (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · cs altánek (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · es tocador (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · cmn 閨房 /闺房 (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · es camarín (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · uk альта́нка (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · fi buduaari (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · la triclea (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · fr boudoir (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · de Gartenlaube (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · yi בודואַר (a woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle) · tr kameriye (a leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods) · de Sommerhaus ((literary) A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage)