Definitions

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

  • noun A place of business that serves alcoholic beverages and often basic meals.
  • noun An inn for travelers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A public house where wines and other liquors are sold, and where food is provided for travelers and other guests; a public house where both food and drink are supplied; an inn.
  • noun Synonyms Inn, Tavern, Hotel, House. In the United States inn and tavern are rarely now popularly applied to places of public entertainment, except sometimes as quaint or affected terms; but in law tavern is sometimes used for any place of public entertainment where liquor is sold under license. Hotel is the general word, or, often, house as the name of a particular hotel.

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

  • noun A public house where travelers and other transient guests are accomodated with rooms and meals; an inn; a hotel; especially, in modern times, a public house licensed to sell liquor in small quantities.

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

  • noun A building containing a bar licensed to sell alcoholic drinks; an inn.

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

  • noun a building with a bar that is licensed to sell alcoholic drinks

Etymologies

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

[Middle English taverne, from Old French, from Latin taberna, hut, tavern, probably from *traberna, from trabs, trab-, beam; see trave.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French taverne ("wine shop"), from Latin taberna ("inn").

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Examples

  • John Crockett moved still westward to this Holston valley, where he reared a pretty large log house on this forest road; and opened what he called a tavern for the entertainment of teamsters and other emigrants.

    David Crockett 1841

  • The revamped tavern is now a visitors center for Central Park, where tourists can sign up for nature tours or visit a gift shop.

    Tavern On The Green Reopens As Visitors Center AP 2010

  • The revamped tavern is now a visitors center for Central Park, where tourists can sign up for nature tours or visit a gift shop.

    Tavern On The Green Reopens As Visitors Center The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • The revamped tavern is now a visitors center for Central Park, where tourists can sign up for nature tours or visit a gift shop.

    Tavern On The Green Reopens As Visitors Center AP 2010

  • The revamped tavern is now a visitors center for Central Park, where tourists can sign up for nature tours or visit a gift shop.

    Tavern On The Green Reopens As Visitors Center AP 2010

  • The revamped tavern is now a visitors center for Central Park, where tourists can sign up for nature tours or visit a gift shop.

    Tavern On The Green Reopens As Visitors Center AP 2010

  • The revamped tavern is now a visitors center for Central Park, where tourists can sign up for nature tours or visit a gift shop.

    Tavern On The Green Reopens As Visitors Center AP 2010

  • The tavern was a smoky den of laughter and curses, rank with the smell of soured dreams.

    THE RIVER KINGS’ ROAD Liane Merciel 2010

  • Mr. Martin writes that the tavern was the "18th century Internet," but I doubt that the brilliant repartee recorded by Boswell and others is to be found in cyberspace.

    A Melancholy 2008

  • Johnson called a tavern chair "the throne of human felicity."

    A Melancholy 2008

Comments

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  • Many people aver in tAVERns.

    November 18, 2009