Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAR'LOR, n. [Fr. parloir; It. and Sp. parlatorio; W. par lawr; from Fr. parler, Sp. parlar, to speak.]

Primarily, the apartment in a nunnery where the nuns are permitted to meet and converse with each other; hence with us, the room in a house which the family usually occupy when they have no company, as distinguished from a drawing-room intended for the reception of company, or from a dining-room, when a distinct apartment is allotted for that purpose. In most houses, the parlor is also the dining-room.