parterre an ornamental garden area in which the flower beds and path form a pattern.
party call Women were expected to visit a party's hostess within a week of the party to thank her, if they have not attended one of her parties before.
passez! adieu! allez vous-en! Go on! Good-bye! Go away!
pâtés meat pies.
pathos the quality in something experienced or observed that arouses feelings of pity, sorrow, sympathy, or compassion.
patois a form of a language differing generally from the accepted standard, as a provincial or local dialect.
pauvre chérie poor dear.
peignoir a woman's loose, full dressing gown; like a negligee.
pension a term used in France and other continental countries for a boardinghouse.
perambulation a walking about; a stroll.
personalities here, personal matters.
pigeon house small bird house for domesticated pigeons.
pirogue a dugout canoe.
pirogue a dugout canoe.
plumb perfectly vertical; straight down.
pompano any of various edible, marine North American and West Indian jack fishes.
porte cochère a large entrance gateway into a courtyard.
programme the acts, speeches, and musical pieces that make up an entertainment or ceremony.
prunella a strong worsted twill, used, especially formerly, as for clerical gowns, shoe uppers, and so on.
quadroon a person who has one black grandparent; child of a mulatto and a white.
Quartier Français French Quarter, also known as the Old Quarter; the oldest part of New Orleans and the area in which most New Orleans' Creoles lived.
recapitulate to repeat briefly, as in an outline; summarize.
reception day one day each week, an upper-class woman was expected to stay home and receive visitors. The day of the week was established when a woman married, and custom demanded she entertain on that day from then on.
Régime (1766–1803) the period of time when the Spanish ruled the territory containing New Orleans.
repose to lie at rest.
rockaway a light horse-drawn carriage with four wheels, open sides, and a standing top.
