Definitions

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

  • noun A porch or balcony, usually roofed and often partly enclosed, extending along the outside of a building.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An open portico, or a light gallery attached to the exterior of a building, with a roof supported on pillars, and a balustrade or railing, and sometimes partly inclosed in front with latticework. By a popular but erroneous usage, often called piazza in the United States.

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

  • noun (Arch.) An open, roofed gallery or portico, adjoining a dwelling house, forming an out-of-door sitting room. See loggia.

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

  • noun a porch along the outside of a building (sometimes partly enclosed)

Etymologies

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

[Hindi varaṇḍā, probably from Portuguese varanda, balcony; akin to vara, rod, stick (as in vara do castello, high part of a castle from which one can see farthest into the distance), from Latin vāra, forked pole, structure with divergent pieces, trestle.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindi बरामदा (barāmdā) m. or बरण्डा (baraṇḍā) m., from Portuguese varanda ("balustrade; balcony") (Spanish baranda).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word veranda.

Examples

  • They called the area the “White Highlands”; it later became notorious for the decadent lifestyle of some of its titled veranda farmers.

    Ancestral Passions Virginia Morell 1995

  • They called the area the “White Highlands”; it later became notorious for the decadent lifestyle of some of its titled veranda farmers.

    Ancestral Passions Virginia Morell 1995

  • Their laughing voices charged with excitement beat against the glassed-in veranda like birds and a strange, saltish smell came from the basket.

    Bliss, and Other Stories 1920

  • Mrs Gildea had settled early to her morning's work in what she called the veranda-study of her cottage in Leichardt's Town.

    Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land 1915

  • She cam now along the veranda from the Old Humpey with the light, rather hurried tread he remembered, talking rapidly when she joined him.

    Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land 1915

  • Conjuring an image of a turn-of-the-century gentleman sitting on his veranda is a bentwood and cane armchair produced around 1900 by German manufacturer Thonet (estimate: £800-£1,200).

    Contemporary Styles 2008

  • With its worn herringbone-patterned wooden floors, white columns connected by arched latticework, and old-fashioned ceiling fan that whirred like a large dragonfly, the veranda was the place where everyone gravitated to read or nap or daydream—and to watch the vividly hued sunsets with their backdrop of the graceful Blue Ridge.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • With its worn herringbone-patterned wooden floors, white columns connected by arched latticework, and old-fashioned ceiling fan that whirred like a large dragonfly, the veranda was the place where everyone gravitated to read or nap or daydream—and to watch the vividly hued sunsets with their backdrop of the graceful Blue Ridge.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • With its worn herringbone-patterned wooden floors, white columns connected by arched latticework, and old-fashioned ceiling fan that whirred like a large dragonfly, the veranda was the place where everyone gravitated to read or nap or daydream—and to watch the vividly hued sunsets with their backdrop of the graceful Blue Ridge.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

  • With its worn herringbone-patterned wooden floors, white columns connected by arched latticework, and old-fashioned ceiling fan that whirred like a large dragonfly, the veranda was the place where everyone gravitated to read or nap or daydream—and to watch the vividly hued sunsets with their backdrop of the graceful Blue Ridge.

    The Merlot Murders Ellen Crosby 2006

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Meet me on my vast veranda

    My sweet untouched Miranda

    The Decemberists, "We Both Go Down Together", from Picaresque (2005)

    In March 2005, the Decemberists were reportedly the first band to distribute a music video via BitTorrent.

    March 30, 2007

  • This is one of the most annoying rhymes in all the Decemberists music. Seriously, did you have to name the girl Miranda just to rhyme it with Veranda? Couldn't Colin have picked a better rhyme here? This song could have been one of my favorites, but this line just throws it off.

    April 2, 2007