Dictionary

parterre en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /pɑːˈtɛə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /pɑːɹˈtɛɚ/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French parterre (“on the ground”), from par (“on”) + terre (“ground”).

Meanings

1. A flowerbed, particularly an elevated one.
   • The window opened towards a most lovely garden, whose smooth turf and gorgeous parterres swept down to the river. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Sir Robert Walpole and House”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 238:
2. A garden with paths between such flowerbeds.
   • Parham House, near Pulborough in West Sussex, has a four-acre walled garden that was restored in the Twenties and has been maintained at a high level ever since. It is divided into four areas, one of which is filled by the cut-flower borders and a box-enclosed parterre. […] It is traditional in a parterre to mix flowers and veg, but this relaxed jungle of productive plants, packed in tight together, is lusher and more beautiful than the more usual Villandry style, where single or pairs of plants are used. 2015 August 29, Sarah Raven, “The stately home garden where you can pick-and-eat all summer [print version: Pick-and-eat planting for the modern parterre, page 5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), archived from the original on 03 Sep 2015:
3. A part of the section of theater seats located on the ground floor, on the same level as the orchestra.
   • That was Selwyn's first encounter with the Ruthvens. A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable débutante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe. 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
4. A part of the section of theater seats located on the ground floor, on the same level as the orchestra. ▸ The part of the ground-floor section nearest the orchestra and the stage; the stalls.
5. (UK) A part of the section of theater seats located on the ground floor, on the same level as the orchestra. ▸ The part of the ground-floor section behind the stalls and underneath the galleries; the pit.
6. (broadly) That part of a theater audience seated in the parterre, sometimes regarded as belonging to a lower social class.
7. (New-York, US) An apartment balcony.

Forms

Deriveds

parterred

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