▪ I. bower, n.1
(baʊə(r), ˈbaʊə(r))
Forms: 1 b{uacu}r, 2–3 bur, 3 bure, 3–6 bour, 3–7 boure, bowr, 4 bor, 4–7 bowre, 5 bowur, 6 boire, 9 (bowre), dial. boor, 5– bower.
[OE. b{uacu}r dwelling, etc., corresp. to OS. bûr neut., OHG. b{uacu}r masc. (MHG. b{uacu}r, mod.G. bauer bird-cage), LG. buur, bur m., ON. b{uacu}r (Sw. bur, Da. buur):—OTeut. *bûro(m:—Aryan bhūrom, f. bhu, in Teut. bū̆- to dwell. Hence neighbour (OE. néah-ᵹeb{uacu}r) and boor.]
1. A dwelling, habitation, abode. In early use lit. A cottage; in later use a poetical word for ‘abode’.
| Beowulf (Z.) 2455 On his suna bure. a 1000 Chart. Eadrea in Cod. Dipl. V. 336 To ðen haᵹan; andlang haᵹan bur. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 963 Bryng me to þat bygly bylde, & let me se þy blysful bor. 1567 J. Studley Seneca's Hippol. (1581) 75 The whilst the fire shall burne These bones, set ope his buriall bower. 1568 Like will to L. in Hazl. Dodsl. III. 353 Of all iniquity thou art the bow'r. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 97 The blacke bowre of sorrowe [gloss. hell]. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 281 ¶11 Our Historians describe the Apartments of Rosamond's Bower. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xii, The primrose pale, and violet flower, Found in each cliff a narrow bower. |
b. esp. a vague poetic word for an idealized abode, not realized in any actual dwelling.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cxxvii. 7 Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 46 The bowr of earthly blisse. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 5 Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease. 1781 Cowper Hope 164 Plucks amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss. 1858 Neale Bernard de M. 34 O! princely bow'rs, O land of flow'rs. |
c. A fancy rustic cottage or country residence.
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xv, In that soft vale, a lady's bower. 1862 Athenæum 30 Aug. 270 Miss Helen Campbell..gave an entertainment in his honour, at her bower in the Clachan Glen. |
† d. A covered stall or booth at a fair. rare.
| 1506 in Glasscock Records St. Michael's 31 Rec. on michelmas day for stonding of bowers w{supt}n th chirchyerde ixd. |
2. An inner apartment, esp. as distinguished from the ‘hall’, or large public room, in ancient mansions; hence, a chamber, a bed-room. Still in north. dial.; in literature only archaic and poetic.
| c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 124 Cubiculum, bedcofa vel bur. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 139 He..ches þere crundel to halle · and eorðhole to bure. c 1205 Lay. 29218 Þer inne he bulde ænne bur. a 1300 Cursor M. 3921 A godd had laban in his bure. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 12 Fful sooty was hir bour and eek hire halle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Bowre, chambyr, thalamus, conclave. c 1460 in Babees Bk. (1868) 13 In halle, yn bowre, or at þe borde. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 616 Euerilk office, baith in hall and bour. 1596 Spenser Astroph. 28 Merily masking both in bowre and hall. 1674 Ray N.C. Wds. 7 Boor, the Parlour, Bedchamber or inner room. Cumb. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. vii, Now torch and menial tendance led Chieftain and knight to bower and bed. 1851 Cumbld. Gloss., Boor, the inner room. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. ix. 357 His sons..carried him to the king's own bower. |
b. Especially applied to a lady's private apartment; a boudoir. Now only poetic.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 109 (Bosw.) On bure, ahof bryd Abrahames hleahtor. a 1300 Cursor M. 4411 Was neuer don to leuedi mar Scam..þan..Ioseph soght on me in bour. c 1325 Coer de L. 879 The kynges doughter lay in her boure. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2165 Sayde þ⊇ heþen kyng ‘In my doȝtere bour þar þay ben’. 1810 Scott Lady of L. v. viii, Love-lorn swain in lady's bower. 1850 Mrs. Browning Rom. Page x, Her bower may suit thee ill! 1866 Kingsley Herew. viii. 135 She enticed him into her bower. |
3. A place closed in or overarched with branches of trees, shrubs, or other plants; a shady recess, leafy covert, arbour.
The first two quots. rather anticipate than illustrate this use of the word.
| [c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 437 He busked hym a bour..Of hay & of euer-ferne & erbez a fewe. 1509 Fisher Wks. 232 Caused an yue tree to sprynge vp sodeynly rounde aboute his boure.] 1523–5 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxxx. (R.) To lodge in bowers of trees, more nerer to the towne. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 210 Ditties..Sung by a faire Queene in a Summers Bowre. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 246 Where the unpierc't shade Imbround the noontide Bowrs. 1706 Addison Rosamond i. i, The bower, that wanders In meanders, Ever bending..Glades on Glades. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. I. s.v., Care must be had that you do not confound the Word Bower with Arbour; because the first is always built long and arch'd, whereas the second is either round or square at Bottom, and has a sort of Dome or Ceiling at the Top. 1827 Keble Chr. Y. 5th Sund. aft. Easter, A gracious rain, freshening the weary bower. |
4. A structure reared by the bower-bird.
| 1869 Nicholson Zool. lxvi. (1880) 625 These curious birds have the habit of building very elaborate bowers..These bowers are wholly independent of their nests. 1884 Grant Allen in Pall Mall G. 20 Sept. 3/2 He had brought a bower of the Australian bower-birds over to England. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as bower eaves, bower-enshaded, bower-head, etc.; bower-may (arch.) = bower-maiden; bower-page, a lady's attendant (arch.); † bower-thane (see quot.); † bowre-window (see quot.). Also bower-bird, -maiden, -woman.
| 1842 Tennyson Margaret v, Look out below your *bower-eaves. |
| 1816 L. Hunt Rimini iii. 442 *Bower-enshaded kisses. |
| a 1825 Ballad ‘Fair Annie’ xi. in Child Ballads iii. (1885) 76/1 She is up to her *bower-head, To behold both sea and land. |
| 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 48 No life of bliss Like sewing gold mid *bower-mays. |
| 1830 C. Clarke 3 Courses 17 The striplings..more adapted to be *bower-pages to those high-born dames. |
| 1845 Thorpe tr. Lappenburg's Hist. Eng. (L.) The chamberlain, or *bower-thane, was also the royal treasurer. |
| 1805 H. Repton Landscape Gard. 178 Large recesses or bays, sometimes called *bowre windows, and now bow windows. |
▪ II. bower, n.2
(ˈbəʊə(r))
[f. bow n.1 and v.2 + -er.]
† 1. A maker of bows; a bowyer. Obs.
| c 1440 York Myst. xxix. 254 The Bowers and Flecchers. 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 367, I payd to the bower fore dyverse gere, vjs. 1483 Cath. Angl. 38 A Bower, arcuarius. 1733 P. Lindsay Interest Scot. 56 The Bowers, Fletchers, and several others. |
2. One who plays with a bow on a violin or other stringed instrument.
| 1668 Shadwell Sullen Lov. ii. Wks. 1720 I. 43 He is a most incomparable Bower, he has..the most luxurious Bow-hand of any man in Europe. |
▪ III. bower, n.3
(ˈbaʊə(r))
[f. bow v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who bows, stoops, etc.; (see bow v.1)
| 1630 Prynne Lame Giles 44 The Anti-puritan bowers at the name of Iesus. 1641 R. Brooke Eng. Episc. ii. vii. 113 Bowers and Cringers. 1849 Life J. Skinner iv. (1884) 60 When the bow is made, the bower walks out of the room. |
2. One who bends anything.
| 1580 North Plutarch 4 A wreather or bower of Pine⁓apple trees. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §278 Bower, fish hook bower,..sets, feeds and operates small fly press which bends fish hooks and forms ring at end. |
† 3. That which causes to bend; esp. a muscle.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 42 His rawbone armes, whose mighty brawned bowrs Were wont to rive steele plates. 1611 Cotgr., Flecheurs, benders, pliers, bowers..the muscles that serue to bow the joynts of the fingers. |
▪ IV. bower, n.4
(ˈbaʊə(r))
[f. bow n.3 + -er1: cf. three-decker, etc.]
1. The name of two anchors, the best-bower, and small-bower, carried at the bows of a vessel; also the cable attached to such anchor.
| 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4521/2 Our small Bower..was drove through our Ship's Bow. 1748 Anson Voy. i. vii. (ed. 4) 101 To cut their cable, and leave their best bower behind them. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) I b, Three good cables; the sheet cable, and the two bowers; best and small. 1842 Marryat P. Keene xxxix. 278, I shall back the best bower with the sheet, and let go the small bower at the same time. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 124 Starboard being the best bower, and port the small bower. |
2. More fully called bower-anchor, bower-cable.
| 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 142. 2223 My..best bower Ancher hooked in one of his Ports. 1748 Anson Voy. ii. ii. (ed. 4) 186 A violent gust of wind..instantly parted our small bower cable. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) VI. 2107 A great piece of ice..brought home the small bower anchor. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iv. 179 By sure bower-anchor hangs and swings the tight war-ship. |
| fig. 1823 Byron Juan xii. iii, Theirs is the best bower-anchor, the chain cable Which holds fast other pleasures. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxxix. 1 The divine faithfulness..is the bower anchor of the soul. |
▪ V. † ˈbower, n.5 Obs.
[a. Du. bouwer or Ger. bauer: see boor.]
A peasant, husbandman.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 192 Of tilthe of lande treteth the boueer. a 1563 Bale Sel. Wks. (1849) 191 Done to death in Frisland by the bowers of the country for teaching a strange religion. |
▪ VI. † ˈbower, n.6, ˈbowess Obs. rare.
[f. bough n. + -er (prob. after brancher), for which the fem. -ess was afterwards substituted.]
(See quots.)
| c 1460 Bk. Hawkyng in Rel. Ant. I. 293 When they [young hawks] begynne to feder..they woll drawe them oute of here neste, and clambre over bowes, and come agayn to here neste, and then beth clepid bowers. 1486 Bk. St. Alban's A ij b, They will..draw to bowis..then thay be clepit Bowessis. 1706 Phillips, Bower or Bowess (in Falconry), a young Hawk so nam'd, when she draws any thing out of her Nest, and covets to clamber on the Boughs. |
▪ VII. bower, n.7 Sc.
[f. bow n.4 herd of cattle + -er1. Pronounced in Sc. (ˈbuːər, ˈbaʊər).]
A tenant who rents a herd of cows along with their pasture and fodder from a proprietor or farmer, and makes what profit he can out of their produce, after paying the rent; or who gives his labour as his share, and divides profits with the proprietor of the stock. Cf. bouman.
▪ VIII. bower, n.8
(ˈbaʊə(r))
[a. Ger. bauer peasant, one sense of which is ‘knave at cards’.]
In the game of Euchre the name of the two highest cards—the knave of trumps, and the knave of the same colour, called right and left bower respectively.
| a 1871 B. Harte Heathen Chinee, At last he put down a right bower, Which the same Nye had dealt unto me. 1884 Detroit Free Press Oct. (Negro Orator) De black man has de bowers in his hand. |
▪ IX. bower, v.
(baʊə(r), ˈbaʊə(r))
[f. bower n.1]
1. trans. To embower; to enclose. lit. and fig.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 81 When thou did'st bower the spirit of a fiend In mortall paradise of such sweet flesh? 1798 Southey Eng. Eclog. i, Jessamine..canopied And bower'd and lined the porch. a 1860 M. Arnold Sch. Gipsy iii. |
† 2. intr. To lodge, shelter, make one's dwelling.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. x. vi, Trees of honour..Spredding pavilions for the birds to bowre. |
▪ X. bower
var. of bougher.