Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A lobby or anteroom, as of a theater or hotel.
- n. An entrance hall; a vestibule.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In theaters, opera-houses, ect., a public room at or near the entrance next to or comprising the lobby: often, as in the Grand Opera at Paris, a magnificent saloon, elaborately decorated.
- n. In a furnace, the crucible or basin which holds the molten metal.
Wiktionary
- n. A lobby, corridor, or waiting room, used in a hotel, theater, etc.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A lobby in a theater; a greenroom.
- n. The crucible or basin in a furnace which receives the molten metal.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a large entrance or reception room or area
Etymologies
- French, social center, from Old French foier, fireplace, from Vulgar Latin *focārium, from Late Latin, neuter of focārius, of the hearth (unattested sense), from Latin focus, fire.
Examples
“I would like to put up some kind of doors to the rooms off the foyer, because I would like to emphasize the sense that the foyer is the most public room of our private residence, and the place for people to get the impression that this is a someone's little kingdom they are entering and not the local hangout.”
“Jessica Antola The foyer is accented by one of Mr. Adler's bright orange lacquer console tables.”
“The original closed-in foyer was dramatically opened.”
The Washington Post: Remodel transforms Reston colonial into a glassy, modern gem
“Features: Curved staircase in foyer, study with mahogany floors and wainscoting, theater room, family room, basement with second kitchen, screened porch, deck, open patio, home four-car garage.”
“In the foyer is this amazing piece of sculpture by Dale Chihuly:”
“It was - A noise ahead, beyond the doors leading into the main foyer, broke her train of thought.”
“The front foyer is mustard yellow, and part of the adjoining kitchen is muted purple, and the diningroom/livingroom has a chairail where they painted the lower half lighter than the upperhalf, which I find very disorienting.”
“The carved Chinese table in the foyer was her mother's, and the framed drawing of the chandelier was done by her father when he was a student at Cooper Union.”
The Huffington Post: Nancy Ruhling: Astoria Characters: The Memory Keeper
“Also off the foyer is a large laundry room -- actually uncommon in Trump Tower -- and a coat closet.”
Live Like a True Super Villain in Trump Tower for Less Than $15 M.
“Off to the right of the foyer was a lounge area, the French doors at the entranceway hanging slightly open.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘foyer’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 154 more...
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Yazhinni Spelling bee
tongue, stallion, scruple, salinity, schedule, rouge, populist, Permian, perspire, pasteurize, multitude, mournful and 227 more...
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Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue's Capitol
vestibule, foyer, mosaic, tessera, tower, elevator, observation deck, rotunda, guilloche, unicameral, legislature, supreme court and 76 more...
seanahan I must add that "and with obscure footfalls undeafens the silence" is a classic line. Sep 18, 2007
reesetee Welllll...okay. If you say so. :-) Sep 17, 2007
npydyuan But it's (we're) the best kind of creeps! Sep 17, 2007
reesetee Oh, great. Now Wordie gives me the creeps. ;-> Sep 17, 2007
uselessness I love it. Sounds like a horror story of sorts, if only because the mansion is so incredibly huge and there are comparatively so few of us, calling to mind big echoey spaces and high vaulted ceilings. Even when there are a bunch of us in one room, we still feel very very small. There's that eerie sensation that we're being watched from somewhere... as the moonlight phases through the midnight rainstorm outside and shines onto the floor through the windowpanes, a gnarled tree branch scratches ominous messages to us on the glass. Soon enough, we flee into the hall, footsteps reverberating, and find another room in which to gather (until fear gets the best of us again). Sep 17, 2007
reesetee Excellent, nypdyuan! Wordie at work. Oh, the joys.... :-D Sep 16, 2007
npydyuan And, you can draw a door any place you want, to any other place, as if with magical chalk, just by making brackets! I do so love a vibrant, experiential metaphor! Sep 16, 2007
npydyuan This Wordie place can have a decidedly spatial vibe to it, at times, if it wants to.... As if you're wandering through a quasi-infinite, ever-evolving mansion in which each word is a room (and each list is a wing?). And characters inhabit the mansion; come and go as they please; congregate in certain rooms (like the erstwhile smoking klatsch over at cigarette!) And some rooms are so quiet as to evince a mystical reverence—until some happy traveler strolls through and with obscure footfalls undeafens the silence with delightfully humble cream pie!
To quote Calvin: "This is so cool I have to go to the bathroom!"
Sep 16, 2007