Pergola

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpɜːɡəlÉ™/

Origin

From Italian pergola, from Latin pergula.

Full definition of pergola

Noun

1. A framework in the form of a passageway of columns that supports a trelliswork roof; used to support and train climbing plants
• 1919, Ronald Firbank, , Duckworth, hardback edition, page 61:By the little garden pergola open to the winds some fluttered peacocks were blotted nervelessly amid the dripping trees, their heads sunk back beneath their wings: while in the pergola itself, like a fallen storm-cloud, lolled a negress, her levelled, polecat eyes semi-veiled by the nebulous alchemy of the rainbow.
• 2000, Gordon Bock, "Pergolas in perspective", Old-House Journal, July/August 2000:While both pergolas and arbors are most dramatic cloaked in climbing, flowing plants, only a pergola will stand naked as a piece of architecture.
• 2009, Jerri Farris, Creating Garden Accents: Step-by-Step Instructions for 22 Projects, Creative Publishing International (2002), ISBN 1589230418, page 98:When I first saw the movie, Chocolat, my favorite element wasn't the plot or the character development or even the cinematography. It was the cloth-draped pergola under which a very special birthday dinner was served.