Definition of "pergola" in English

noun

1. A framework in the form of a passageway of columns that supports a trelliswork roof; used to support and train climbing plants.

   • 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.
   • While both pergolas and arbors are most dramatic cloaked in climbing, flowing plants, only a pergola will stand naked as a piece of architecture.

2. Such a framework employed to provide shade, especially over a patio.