bower definition

1. Anciently, a chamber; a lodging room; especially, a lady's private apartment. "Give me my lute in bed now as I lie, And lock the doors of mine unlucky bower." (Gascoigne)

2. A rustic cottage or abode; poetically, an attractive abode or retreat.

3. A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees or vines, etc, twined together; an arbor; a shady recess.

Origin: OE. Bour, bur, room, dwelling, AS. Bur, fr. The root of AS. Buan to dwell; akin to Icel. Bur chamber, storehouse, Sw. Bur cage, Dan. Buur, OHG. Pur room, G. Bauer cage, bauer a peasant. 97] Cf.Boor, Byre.

1. One who bows or bends.

2. An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.

3. A muscle that bends a limb, especially. The arm. "His rawbone arms, whose mighty brawned bowers" "Were wont to rive steel plates and helmets hew." (Spenser) Best bower, Small bower. See the Note under Anchor.

Origin: From Bow.

<veterinary> A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest.

Origin: From Bough, cf. Brancher.

(01 Mar 1998)