c. 1300, parlur, "apartment in a monastery for conversations with outside persons," earlier "window through which confessions were made" (c. 1200), from Old French parleor "courtroom, judgment hall, auditorium" (12c., Modern French parloir), from parler "to speak" (see parley (n.)).

The sense developed by late 14c. to "room off a main hall offering some privacy," by early 15c. to "public room of a private house," by 16c. to "the ordinary sitting room of a family." The meaning "show room for a business" (as in ice cream parlor) is by 1884. As an adjective, "advocating radical views from a position of comfort" (as in parlor socialist) is by 1900.

chiefly British English spelling of parlor (q.v.); see -or.

late 14c., "dangerous, alarming," a late Middle English contraction of perilous. Related: Parlously.

c. 1200 (late 12c. as a surname), "tailor, furrier," from Old French parmentier, Medieval Latin parmentarius, a word of uncertain origin.

type of dry, hard cheese, 1550s, from parmeson cheese (1510s), from the adjective meaning "of or relating to Parma," the city of northern Italy; from Italian Parmegiano "of Parma." The place name is probably ultimately Etruscan.

"the abiding place of poetry, the home of the poets," late 14c., Parnaso, from Italian, from Latin Parnassus, from Greek Parnassos, Parnasos, mountain chain in central Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, thus symbolic of poetry. Ancient sources say the older name was Larnassos; Beekes hints at a Pre-Greek origin. Related: Parnassian.

Various kinds of literary fame seem destined to various measures of duration. Some spread into exuberance with a very speedy growth, but soon wither and decay; some rise more slowly, but last long. Parnassus has its flowers of transient fragrance, as well as its oaks of towering height, and its laurels of eternal verdure. [Samuel Johnson, "The Rambler," March 23, 1751]

in Irish history, 1881, a political adherent of the Irish Home Rule policy of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891); with -ite (1). For the surname, see Petronilla.

late 14c., "of or pertaining to a parish," from Anglo-French parochiel (early 14c.), from Old French parochial, from Late Latin parochialis "of a parish" (c. 600), from parochia (see parish).

Figurative sense, "limited, narrow," as if confined to a small region, is from 1856 (also see parochialism). Parochial school is attested from 1755.

"limited and narrow character or tendency, provincialism, narrow-mindedness and uncuriosity about the wider world," 1847, from parochial + -ism.

"a writer of parodies," 1742, from French parodiste (18c.), from parodie (see parody (n.)).