arbour
pronunciation
How to pronounce arbour in British English:
UK [ˈɑːbə(r)]
How to pronounce arbour in American English:
US [ ˈɑːrbər]
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- Noun:
- a framework that supports climbing plants
Word Origin
- arbour
- arbour: [14] Despite its formal resemblance to, and semantic connections with, Latin arbor ‘tree’, arbour is not etymologically related to it. In fact, its nearest English relative is herb. When it first came into English it was erber, which meant ‘lawn’ or ‘herb/flower garden’. This was borrowed, via Anglo-Norman, from Old French erbier, a derivative of erbe ‘herb’.This in turn goes back to Latin herba ‘grass, herb’ (in the 16th century a spelling with initial h was common in England). Gradually, it seems that the sense ‘grassy plot’ evolved to ‘separate, secluded nook in a garden’; at first, the characteristic feature of such shady retreats was their patch of grass, but their seclusion was achieved by surrounding trees or bushes, and eventually the criterion for an arbour shifted to ‘being shaded by trees’.Training on a trellis soon followed, and the modern arbour as ‘bower’ was born. The shift from grass and herbaceous plants to trees no doubt prompted the alteration in spelling from erber to arbour, after Latin arbor; this happened in the 15th and 16th centuries.=> herb
- arbour (n.)
- chiefly British English spelling of arbor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.
Example
- 1. Ms. arbour announced sunday that she was retiring after years of international service .
- 2. They sat in the arbour and chatted over tea .
- 3. Louise arbour , the un high commissioner for human rights , has called for the complete abolition of the death penalty .
- 4. In opening the conference , u.n. high commissioner for human rights louise arbour , told delegates the high prices and shortages of food were jeopardizing the well-being and rights of countless people .
- 5. The decision to set up the regional office in bishkek follows high commissioner louise arbour 's visit to central asia in 2007 , when she discussed cooperation between the central asian countries and ohchr and the generous offer of the kyrgyz government to host the regional office .