parlour

 
Pronunciation: /ˈpɑːlə/
(US parlor)

noun

  • 1 dated a sitting room in a private house: they had lunch in the parlour [as modifier]: she knocked on the parlour door
  • 2a room in a public building for receiving guests: the mayor’s parlour
  • a room in a monastery or convent that is set aside for conversation.
  • 3 [usually with modifier] chiefly North American a shop or business providing specified goods or services: an ice-cream parlour a funeral parlour
  • 4 (also milking parlour) a room or building equipped for milking cows.

adjective

[attributive] derogatory
  • denoting a person who professes belief in but does not actively support a specified (especially radical) political view: the parlour Socialists of the late Victorian period

Origin:

Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French parlur 'place for speaking', from Latin parlare 'speak'

Spelling help

Remember that parlour ends with -our (the spelling parlor is American).