parlour

noun, adjective Chiefly British.

1. parlor.

noun

1. Older Use. a room for the reception and entertainment of visitors to one’s home; living room.
2. a room, apartment, or building serving as a place of business for certain businesses or professions: funeral parlor; beauty parlor.
3. a somewhat private room in a hotel, club, or the like for relaxation, conversation, etc.; lounge.
4. Also called locutorium. a room in a monastery or the like where the inhabitants may converse with visitors or with each other.

adjective

5. advocating something, as a political view or doctrine, at a safe remove from actual involvement in or commitment to action: parlor leftism; parlor pink.

noun

1. old-fashioned a living room, esp one kept tidy for the reception of visitors
2. a reception room in a priest’s house, convent, etc
3. a small room for guests away from the public rooms in an inn, club, etc
4. mainly US, Canadian and NZ a room or shop equipped as a place of businessa billiard parlor
5. Caribbean a small shop, esp one selling cakes and nonalcoholic drinks
6. Also called: milking parlour a building equipped for the milking of cows

chiefly British English spelling of parlor (q.v.). n.c.1200, parlur, “window through which confessions were made,” also “apartment in a monastery for conversations with outside persons;” from Old French parleor “courtroom, judgment hall, auditorium” (12c., Modern French parloir), from parler “to speak” (see parley (n.)). Sense of “sitting room for private conversation” is late 14c.; that of “show room for a business” (e.g. ice cream parlor) first recorded 1884. As an adjective, “advocating radical views from a position of comfort,” 1910.