Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An arbor or a passageway of columns supporting a roof of trelliswork on which climbing plants are trained to grow.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A kind of arbor; a sort of balcony.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Italian art) Lit., an arbor or bower

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A framework in the form of a passageway of columns that supports a trelliswork roof; used to support and train climbing plants

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a framework that supports climbing plants

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, from Latin pergula.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Italian pergola, from Latin pergula.

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Examples

  • Well, often what you'll see in a pergola is a lot more lattice going in closer together and going perpendicular to that, creating the surface for the growing vine and to block sun, of course.

    CNN Transcript Jul 23, 2005 2005

  • A trellised arbour (which some years later would have been called a pergola) led from the porch up the hill to an old-fashioned summer-house on the crest.

    A Modern Chronicle — Complete Winston Churchill 1909

  • A trellised arbour (which some years later would have been called a pergola) led from the porch up the hill to an old-fashioned summer-house on the crest.

    Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Winston Churchill Winston Churchill 1909

  • A trellised arbour (which some years later would have been called a pergola) led from the porch up the hill to an old-fashioned summer-house on the crest.

    A Modern Chronicle — Volume 02 Winston Churchill 1909

  • The pergola is the one that flanked the "Turkish Villa", aka the

    we make money not art Regine 2010

  • The pergola is the one that flanked the "Turkish Villa", aka the

    we make money not art Regine 2010

  • A pergola is a series of archways that are tied together, usually with wooden beams or posts.

    BellaOnline - The Voice of Women 2009

  • For Lynn and Joe Rouse, the pergola is a versatile area that's relatively inexpensive to maintain.

    unknown title 2009

  • For Lynn and Joe Rouse, the pergola is a versatile area that's relatively inexpensive to maintain.

    unknown title 2009

  • Arrived at home, Laura (as soon as she had looked up the definition of "pergola" in the dictionary) lost no time in telephoning to Mrs. Cressler.

    The Pit: A Story of Chicago 1903

Comments

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  • "Let's have cheese and white wine under that pergola," suggested Van.

    - Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor

    June 5, 2008

  • A pergola is a garden feature forming a shaded walk or passageway of pillars that support cross beams and a sturdy open lattice, upon which woody vines are trained. As a type of gazebo, it may also be part of a building, as protection for an open terrace. The origin of the word is the Late Latin pergula, referring to a projecting eave. The term was borrowed for English from Italian, mentioned in an Italian context in 1645 and used in an English context in 1675.

    June 9, 2008

  • The pronunciation given for this word (as of 2 Jan 2010), / ˈpərgoʊklə, gjuklə /, cannot be right; specifically, the extraneous "k" sound.

    January 3, 2010