manor

/ˈmænər/

/ˈmænə/

Other forms: manors

A manor is the house of a lord — pretty fancy stuff. If you like to read 18th-century British novels, you probably read about a lot of people having dinner, dance, and restrained romance in their manors.

Manor comes from the Old French manoir, meaning "dwelling place," but a manor isn't just any old dwelling place. In the days when people still had titles of nobility, the houses and the grounds of the nobles were known as manors. If you tell someone that his house is a manor, that's like saying it's so opulent and lovely that it could have belonged to a lord.

Definitions of manor

1. noun

   the landed estate of a lord (including the house on it)
   type of:

   acres, demesne, estate, land, landed estate

   extensive landed property (especially in the country) retained by the owner for his own use
2. noun

   the mansion of a lord or wealthy person
   synonyms: manor house

   type of:

   hall, manse, mansion, mansion house, residence

   a large and imposing house