Forms: see under the separate senses. [This word has undergone great change of form and signification. Orig. (h)erber, a. AF. (h)erber, OF. (h)erbier, a place covered with grass or herbage, a garden of herbs:—L. herbārium a collection of herbs, f. herba grass, herb: see -ARIUM. Erber became arber by a change that was frequent with -er before a cons. (cf. harb, arb, yarb, obs. or dial. forms of herb itself; also arber, harbour, carve, starve, farm, etc., and the spoken forms of clerk, sergeant, Derby, Hertford, Cherwell); and arber was in 16th c. written arbour, -or, in accordance with the common scribal interchange of -er, -our, -or (cf. arbiter, -our, sailer, -our, -or).
[These phonetic and graphic changes were facilitated by the change of sense, as the word ceased to be associated with herb; the final acceptance of arbour, arbor, was probably aided by the natural tendency to connect it with L. arbor tree, or It. arborata bower. Hence, from c. 1550, there was a tendency to distinguish herbour and arbour, restricting the latter to senses 3, 5. Levins, Manip. (1570), has ‘An Arboure, arboretum; an Herboure, viretam, herbaretum’; also, ‘Harboure, hospitium.’ This last word has also been supposed by some to have influenced the form of arbour; but of this there is no trace. Occasional instances of confusion between arbour and harbour are merely the mistakes of individuals.]
† 1. A plot of ground covered with grass or turf; a garden lawn, or ‘green.’ Forms: 4–5 erber(e, herber(e. Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 9. Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere, Þurȝ gresse to grounde hit fro me yot. Ibid., A. 38. I entred in þat erber grene…. 57. I felle vpon þat floury flaȝt.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1773. Faste þar-by was he, Sittynge on a grene erber.
c. 1400. Rowland & Ot., 994. Greses broghte þat fre, Þat godd sett in his awenn herbere.
a. 1460. Medulla Gram., Viretum, locus pascualis virens, a gres-ȝerd, or an herber.
† 2. A garden of herbs or flowers; a flower-garden; a flower-bed. Forms: 3–5 erber(e, 3–6 herber(e, 5 eerbir, erbare, 6 herbour. Obs.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 331. Herbes he tok in an herber, And stamped heom in a morter.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 280. Pride in pes es nettille in herbere, Þe rose is myghtles, þer nettille spredis ouer fer.
c. 1430. Hymns to Virg. (1867), 6. Marie þat art flour of alle, As roose in eerbir so reed!
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1968. Uppon the low … An erber wrought with mannus hond, With herbis that were good.
c. 1482. Caxton, Vocab. Eng. & Fr., in Promp. Parv., 141. Richer the carter shall lede dong on my land whan it shall be ered, and on my herber [F. courtil = cottage garden] whan it shall be doluen.
1500. Ortus Vocab., in Promp. Parv., 141. Herbarium, an herber, vbi crescunt herbe, vel vbi habundant, or a gardyn.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., an. 14, in P. P., 141. A quadrant stage where on was an herber full of roses, lyllies, and all other flowers curiously wrought.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 656. She threw herself into a bed or herbour of prickley Roses.
† 3. A garden of fruit-trees, an orchard. [Cf. orchard:—OE. wyrt-ʓeard, i.e., herb-yard, and F. verger:—L. viridārium, i.e., a ‘green.’ Orchards were usually formed on grass.] Forms: 4–6 erber(e, herber(e, 5 erbor(e, 6 arbre, arber, arbour.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 15. Þat frute … groweth in a gardyne, þat god made hymseluen … Herte hatte þe herber [v.r. erber] þat it in groweth.
a. 1400. Thom. Erceldoune (1875), 177. Scho lede hym intill a faire herbere [v.r. erbore] Whare frute was growand gret plentee; Pere and appill, both ryppe þay were, The date, and als the damasee, [etc.].
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle (1859), 63. He saw syttynge vnder an ympe [= sapling] in an herber, a wonder fayre damosel.
c. 1475[?]. Sqr. lowe Degre, 28. In the garden, as i wene, Was an arber fayre and grene, And in the arber was a tre.
1580. Baret, Alv., A 520. An arbour, Arboretum, Vne parc d’arbres, bocage.
† 4. Trees or shrubs, such as the vine, trained on framework or trellis-work; espaliers. Forms: 5 erber, 6 herber, -or, -our, 6–7 harbour, arbour.
1428. in Heath, Grocers’ Comp. (1869), 6. For costages of the gardyne 4s. 8d. and … for making of the Erber, carvyng newe railing off alle the vynes and gardyne £8 8s. 7d.
1554. Acc. Edw. VI., in Trevelyan Papers, II. 15. Sir John Wulfe … deviser of the Kinges herbors & plantes of grafts.
1563. Hyll, Arte Garden. (1593), 13. The herbers either straight running vp, or else vaulted or close ouer the head, like to the vine herbers now a daies made.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xviii. (1655), 113. Excellent grapes … not planted like vineyards, but growing up in harbours.
5. A bower or shady retreat, of which the sides and roof are formed by trees and shrubs closely planted or intertwined, or of lattice-work covered with climbing shrubs and plants, as ivy, vine, etc. Forms: 4–6 erber(e, herber(e, 5 herbier, erbor, arbre, 5–6 arber, 6 herbor, harber, herbour, arboure (all obs.), 6– arbour, arbor.
(The original characteristic of the ‘arbour’ seems to have been the floor and ‘benches’ of herbage; in the modern idea (since 16th c. at least) the leafy covering is the prominent feature.)
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1768. In þe gardyn to pleie, To bi-hold þe estres & þe herberes so faire.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 203. A litel herber [Bodley MS. erber] that I have, That benched was on turves fressh ygrave.
c. 1400. Flower & Leaf, 64. And shapin was this herber, rofe and all, As is a pretty parlour. [See the full description of this herber, with its close-shaven turf, thick hedge, etc.]
1460. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 56. In an herbier made ful plesantly Thei restid them.
1528. More, Heresyes, II. Wks. 177/2. We walked into a gardine. And … sitting in an arber beganne to go forth in our matter. [Cf. 247/1 Sitting down in an herber.]
1549. Thomas, Hist. Italie, 6. Vnder the fresshe herbers, hedges and boowes … they triumph in as muche pleasure as maie be imagined.
1575. Laneham, Lett. (1871), 2. A goodlie Chase … beautified with manie delectabl, fresh and vmbragioous Boow[r]z, Arberz, Seatz, and walks.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 361. Sitting in an herbor.
1563. Hyll, Arte Garden. (1593), 161. You may make a couer ouer them like to an harbour.
1597. Morley, Introd. Music, 70. Go and sit in yonder shadie Arbor.
1598. Florio, Arborata, an arbor or bowre of boughs or trees.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 183. An Arbor, warm, and promising much Refreshing to the Pilgrims; for it was finely wrought above-head, beautified with Greens.
1817. Coleridge, Sib. Leaves (1862), 224. Those hollies of themselves a shape As of an arbour took, A close, round arbour.
1823. J. Thacher, Jrnl. Amer. Revol., 244. We erected a large arbor, with the boughs of trees.
1850. Layard, Nineveh, viii. 178. Upon carpets spread under an arbour, formed by a wide-spreading vine.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 251. Pulled down earthward, pegged and picketed, By topiary contrivance, till the tree Became an arbour.
† b. A shaded or covered alley or walk. Obs.
1573. Richmond. Wills & Inv. (1853), 234. I geve my soule unto Almightie God, and my bodye to be buried within ye arbour on the north side off the churche of Richmonde.
1580. Baret, Alv., A 521. An open galerie, arbour or walke, Paradromis. Ibid., A 523. A worke made of trees, bushes, bryers, or hearbes, with places to sitte and walke in for pleasure, as they now make arboures, Topiarium.
1590. Greene, Arcadia (1616), 17. The mountaine tops shall be thy morning walke, and the shadie Vallies thy euenings Arbour.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 626. Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green, Our walks at noon, with branches overgrown.
1712. Budgell, Spect., No. 425, ¶ 1. A Wilderness parted into Variety of Allies and Arbours.
6. Comb., as arbour-maker, -wise.
1647. Haward, Crown Rev., 27. Arbor-maker, and planter of Trees.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., an. 12 (1809), 611. On the Mountaigne [artificial] was a place Harber wise, where the Herauldes were.
a. 1687. Gookin, in Mass. Hist. Coll., I. 149. Their houses, or wigwams, are built with small poles fixed in the ground, bent and fastened together with barks of trees, oval or arbour-wise on the top.
