From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtaverntav‧ern /ˈtævən $ -ərn/ noun [countable] 1 British English old useDFDDL a pub where you can also stay the night2 DFDDLa word for a bar, often used in the name of a bar Murphy’s Tavern
Examples from the Corpus
tavern• Here half a dozen hotels soon sprang up along with a hodge-podge of other shops, booths, and taverns.• Gainsborough had 44 hotels, inns and taverns, 9 beerhouses and 4 eating and boarding houses.• They put up at taverns, boarding houses, and, in the larger towns, hotels.• Holyrood Tavern A completely refurbished tavern which still retains much of the character of the old pub.• Those who shuffled cards in taverns now deal shares on the Net.• You can call the taverns tonight.• They frequented the tavern and engaged in unspecified lewd practices.• The newcomers spread out across the floor of the tavern, whilst customers dodged hurriedly out of their way.Origin tavern (1200-1300) Old French taverne, from Latin taberna “small simple building, shop”