parlor

n. [ OE. parlour, parlur, F. parloir, LL. parlatorium. See Parley. ] [ Written also parlour. ] 1. A room for business or social conversation, for the reception of guests, etc. Specifically: (a) The apartment in a monastery or nunnery where the inmates are permitted to meet and converse with each other, or with visitors and friends from without. Piers Plowman. (b) In large private houses, a sitting room for the family and for familiar guests, -- a room for less formal uses than the drawing-room. Esp., in modern times, the dining room of a house having few apartments, as a London house, where the dining parlor is usually on the ground floor. (c) Commonly, in the United States, a drawing-room, or the room where visitors are received and entertained; a room in a private house where people can sit and talk and relax, not usually the same as the dining room. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

☞ “In England people who have a drawing-room no longer call it a parlor, as they called it of old and till recently.” Fitzed. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A room in an inn or club where visitors can be received. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Parlor car. See Palace car, under Car. [ 1913 Webster ]