Davenport was the name of a series of

sofa A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport (sofa), davenport, is a cushioned piece of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench (furniture), bench with Upholstery, upholstered ...

s made by the

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

furniture manufacturer A. H. Davenport and Company, now defunct. Due to the popularity of the furniture at the time, the name ''davenport'' became a

genericized trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...

in parts of the United States.

Variations

The term is used as a synonym for "sofa" or "couch" in some

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

s of the United States, especially the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

and

Buffalo, NY Buffalo is a city in the U.S. state of New York and county seat of Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River on the Canadian border. With a population of 278,349 according to ...

– Erie, PA areas.Jøhndal, Marius et al. (2018) 004-2006
The UWM Dialect Survey
. Cambridge University. It was used in the Adirondack Region and the Tug Hill Plateau amongst those born there before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The so-called davenports of the northern New York region are often sofa versions of the locally manufactured convertible Adirondack chair. The word has come to mean a more formal sofa among the younger generations. In the Tug Hill and Adirondack regions in New York, a davenport may refer primarily to a couch which, like a modern

futon A is a traditional Japanese style of bedding. A complete futon set consists of a and a . Both elements of a futon bedding set are pliable enough to be folded and stored away in a large during the day. This allows a room to serve as a bedro ...

lounge, converts on pivoting

hinge A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation, with all ...

s from a sofa to a bed. In other areas of North America, the word davenport is used for a

-style sofa with storage under the seat area.

Etymology

A "large upholstered couch," 1897, apparently named for the manufacturer. Earlier (1853), it was "a kind of small ornamental writing table." The proper name is attested from the 12th century, from a place in Cheshire (Old English Devennport). A similar word, Daveno, also refers to a sofa or couch. The term was more widely used in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

References

External links

* {{wiktionary-inline, davenport Couches

Variations

Etymology

See also

References

External links