parlor car

American  

noun

1. a railroad passenger car that has individual reserved seats and is more comfortable than a day coach.

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parlor car British  

noun

1. (in the US and Canada) a comfortable railway coach with individual reserved seats

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Etymology

Origin of parlor car

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

Or is it the soft, steady voice of the stranger in the train’s parlor car, telling a story to the boy’s father?

From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2015

That evening, pouch-eyed, gaunt, battered, he climbed out of a parlor car at Washington and went directly to the White House.

From Time Magazine Archive

Today Branford ranks as the second largest trolley trove in the country, is stocked with 75 cars, ranging from a John Stephenson horsecar, vintage 1893, to a wicker-chaired private parlor car in mint condition.

From Time Magazine Archive

The ordinary traveler pays $4.38 to make the round trip in a parlor car between Washington and Baltimore.

From Time Magazine Archive

Walking to board the parlor car, we had passed a dining car toward which he jerked his head, “I used to work on that thing.”

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey