pergola

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian pergola, from Latin pergula.

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. 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 61
   While both pergolas and arbors are most dramatic cloaked in climbing, flowing plants, only a pergola will stand naked as a piece of architecture. 2000, Gordon Bock, "Pergolas in perspective", Old-House Journal, July/August 2000
   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. 2009, Jerri Farris, Creating Garden Accents: Step-by-Step Instructions for 22 Projects, Creative Publishing International, published 2002, page 98
2. Such a framework employed to provide shade, especially over a patio.