tavern

/ˈtævərn/

/ˈtævən/

Other forms: taverns

A tavern is a pub or a bar, often one that rents upstairs rooms to travelers.

The word tavern is most popular in the New England region of the United States, where many taverns date back as far as the 1600s and 1700s. A tavern is a drinking establishment that rents rooms — in England, it's much more common to call such a place an inn. The earliest, thirteenth century meaning of tavern was "wine shop," and by the 1400s it meant "public house or inn." The root word is the Latin taberna, "hut, shop, or inn."

Definitions of tavern

1. noun

   a building with a bar that is licensed to sell alcoholic drinks
   synonyms: tap house

   types:

   beer garden

   tavern with an outdoor area (usually resembling a garden) where beer and other alcoholic drinks are served

   bucket shop

   (formerly) a cheap saloon selling liquor by the bucket

   gin mill, pothouse, pub, public house, saloon, taphouse

   tavern consisting of a building with a bar and public rooms; often provides light meals

   rathskeller

   a tavern below street level featuring beer; originally a German restaurant in the basement of city hall

   shebeen

   unlicensed drinking establishment

   alehouse

   a tavern where ale is sold

   free house

   a public house that is not controlled by a brewery and so is free to sell different brands of beer and ale

   type of:

   building, edifice

   a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place