Bower Meaning
/ˈbaʊə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
nounA dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.
Sentence Examples
The garden bower was filled with flowers.
She sat quietly in her bower reading.
The garden featured a beautiful bower covered in climbing roses.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The lovers sat in the secluded ____ surrounded by flowering vines.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They sat in a quiet ____ of roses and enjoyed the fresh morning air.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (Danish bur, Norwegian Bokmål bur, Swedish bur).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Give me my lute in bed now as I lie, / And lock the doors of mine unlucky bower."
— c. 1572, George Gascoigne, A Lady being both wronged by false suspect, and also wounded by the durance of hir husband, doth thus bewray hir grief.:
"Rosa refused to return to the lair of the raper, but was induced to give Tudy what his mother described as ‘his last bit of happiness’ in a bower hastily got ready at Montrose, the La Plante mansion on Greenock Heights."
— 1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 373:
"While friends arrived in circles gay,
To visit Damon's bower"
— 1748, William Shenstone, to William Lyttleton Esq.:
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."
— 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:
"[…]say that thou overheard'st us,
And bid her steal into the pleached bower,
Where honey-suckles, ripen'd by the sun,
Forbid the sun to enter;[…]"
— 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The lovers sat in the secluded ____ surrounded by flowering vines.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They sat in a quiet ____ of roses and enjoyed the fresh morning air.