Definitions

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

  • noun A place where alcoholic drinks are sold and drunk; a tavern.
  • noun A large room or hall for receptions, public entertainment, or exhibitions.
  • noun The officers' dining and social room on a cargo ship.
  • noun A large social lounge on a passenger ship.
  • noun Chiefly British A sedan automobile.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any spacious or elegant apartment for the reception of company, or for the exhibition of works of art; a hall of reception.
  • noun A hall for public entertainments or amusement; also, an apartment for specific public use: as, the saloon of a steamer (that is, the main cabin); a refreshment saloon.
  • noun A place where intoxicating liquors are sold and drunk; a grog-shop.
  • noun An erroneous form of shalloon.

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

  • noun A spacious and elegant apartment for the reception of company or for works of art; a hall of reception, esp. a hall for public entertainments or amusements; a large room or parlor.
  • noun Popularly, a public room for specific uses; esp., a barroom or grogshop.

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

  • noun US A tavern, especially in an American Old West setting.
  • noun UK, dated A lounge bar in an English public house, contrasted with the public bar.
  • noun UK The most common body style for modern cars, with a boot or trunk.
  • noun The cabin area of a boat or yacht devoted to seated relaxation, often combined with dining table.
  • noun rail transport the part of a rail carriage or multiple unit containing seating for passengers.
  • noun Dated form of salon. (living room in a house)

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

  • noun tavern consisting of a building with a bar and public rooms; often provides light meals
  • noun a car that is closed and that has front and rear seats and two or four doors
  • noun a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter

Etymologies

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

[French salon, salon; see salon.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French salon, either augmentative of salle ("room"), or borrowed from Italian salone ("hall"), augmentative form of salla ("room"); in both cases borrowed from a Germanic source such as Old High German sal ("house, hall"), from Proto-Germanic *salan, from Proto-Indo-European *sol-, derived from *sel- (“dwelling”)

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Examples

  • In the Fifteenth Assembly District some distance below, but on the same line, the first sociological canvass of the Federation of Churches had found the churches, schools, and other educational agencies marshalling a frontage of 756 feet on the street, while the saloon fronts stretched themselves over nearly a mile; so that, said the compiler of these pregnant facts, “saloon social ideals are minting themselves on the minds of the people at the ratio of seven saloon thoughts to one educational thought.

    V. “Druv into Decency” 1902

  • Our passengers were not many in what we called the saloon -- three New

    The Chronicles of a Gay Gordon 1892

  • He was well known for scaring the pants of other drivers in saloon car racing at the Nurburgring by screeming up behind them in a massivly over-weight, under-braked 500 Merc.

    Up the Spout Peter Ashley 2008

  • The Rover 3-Litre saloon is the Unmitigated English motor car.

    Down Rover! Peter Ashley 2008

  • She called the saloon keepers swill-faced, beak-nosed bed mates of Satan.

    Carry A. Nation: Retelling the Life 2001

  • The front-wheel-drive 3.2, the all-wheel-drive T6 and the AWD V8 are the new variants for the saloon from the Swedish company which aims to out-muscle the best in the prestige passenger car sector.

    Welcome to the Limerick Post on the web 2009

  • The front-wheel-drive 3.2, the all-wheel-drive T6 and the AWD V8 are the new variants for the saloon from the Swedish company which aims to out-muscle the best in the prestige passenger car sector.

    Welcome to the Limerick Post on the web 2009

  • Bentley's gorgeous "saloon" -- was to pretty much the same general effect, though somewhat more ornately expressed by the use of picturesque expletives, which it is needless to quote.

    The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce — Volume 2: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians Ambrose Bierce 1878

  • There's blue sky so it's a daytime scene pictured and I * think* the title was in a funky "saloon" - type or scriptlike font.

    Smart Bitches, Trashy Books SB Sarah 2010

  • Since it’s so close to where the hair saloon is located, drive around the neighborhood and enjoy a difference in living pleasure of days gone by.

    Guadalajara hair salon 2008

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