Definition of "bowery"

The group performed in the old bowery, an open-air building with a roof of branches laid over vertical poles, the forerunner of the first tabernacle.

2005, Martha Sonntag Bradley-Evans, “Evolving Roles and Diverse Expressions”, in Women in Utah History: Paradigm Or Paradox, University Press of Colorado

This year’s Easter egg hunt will be at the community bowery on Saturday, April 15.

2017, Lacie Kotter, “Howell Hotline - Awaiting a welcome sign,”, in The Herald Journal

Such a man had no chance whatever in this flowery and bowery little suburb.

1906, George Gissing, “Fate and the Apothecary,”, in The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories

His estate, or bowery, as it was called, has ever continued in the possession of his descendants.

1809, Washington Irving, chapter 65, in Knickerbocker's History of New York

The emigrants [in New York] were scattered on boweries or plantations […]

1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.]