Bower \Bow"er\, n. [OE. bour, bur, room, dwelling, AS. b[=u]r, fr. the root of AS. b[=u]an to dwell; akin to Icel. b[=u]r chamber, storehouse, Sw. b[=u]r cage, Dan. buur, OHG. p[=u]r room, G. bauer cage, bauer a peasant. [root]97] Cf.{Boor}, {Byre}.] 1. Anciently, a chamber; a lodging room; esp., a lady's private apartment.
Give me my lute in bed now as I lie, And lock the doors of mine unlucky bower. --Gascoigne.
2. A rustic cottage or abode; poetically, an attractive abode or retreat. --Shenstone. B. Johnson.
3. A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees or vines, etc., twined together; an arbor; a shady recess.
Bower \Bow"er\, v. t. To embower; to inclose. --Shak.
Bower \Bow"er\, v. i. To lodge. [Obs.] --Spenser.
Bower \Bow"er\, n. [From {Bough}, cf. {Brancher}.] (Falconry) A young hawk, when it begins to leave the nest. [Obs.]
Bower \Bo"wer\, n. [From {Bow}, v. & n.] 1. One who bows or bends.
2. (Naut.) An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.
3. A muscle that bends a limb, esp. the arm. [Obs.]
His rawbone arms, whose mighty brawned bowers Were wont to rive steel plates and helmets hew. --Spenser.
{Best bower}, {Small bower}. See {the Note under Anchor}.
Bower \Bow"er\ (bou"[~e]r), n. [G. bauer a peasant. So called from the figure sometimes used for the knave in cards. See {Boor}.] One of the two highest cards in the pack commonly used in the game of euchre.
{Right bower}, the knave of the trump suit, the highest card (except the ``Joker'') in the game.
{Left bower}, the knave of the other suit of the same color as the trump, being the next to the right bower in value.
{Best bower} or {Joker}, in some forms of euchre and some other games, an extra card sometimes added to the pack, which takes precedence of all others as the highest card.