bowery
pronunciation
How to pronounce bowery in British English:
UK ['baʊəri]
How to pronounce bowery in American English:
US ['baʊərɪ]
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- Adjective:
- like a bower; leafy and shady
Word Origin
- bowery (n.)
- "farm, plantation," from Dutch bowerij "homestead farm" (from the same source as bower); a Dutch word probably little used in America outside New York, and there soon limited to one road, The Bowery, that ran from the built-up part of the city out to the plantations in middle Manhattan, attested from 1787; the city's growth soon overran it, and it was noted by 1840 as a commercial district notorious for squalor, rowdiness, and low life. Bowery Boy, the typical New York tough of a generation or two ago, named from the street which he chiefly affected .... He rather prided himself on his uncouthness, his ignorance, and his desperado readiness to fight, but he also loved to have attention called to his courage, his gallantry to women, his patriotic enthusiasm, and his innate tenderness of heart. A fire and a thrilling melodrama called out all his energies and emotions. [Walsh, 1892]
Example
- 1. Again he resorted to the bowery lodging-house , brooding over where to look .
- 2. Another was on the bowery , which he knew contained many showy resorts .
- 3. They frequent the bowery and those down-at-the-heels east side streets where poor clothes and shrunken features are not singled out as curious .
- 4. They belonged to the class that sit on the park benches during the endurable days and sleep upon them during the summer nights . They frequent the bowery and those down-at-the-heels east side streets where poor clothes and shrunken features are not singled out as curious .
- 5. At least one flophouse survives on the bowery .