Word of the Week: pergola (PÛR-gə-lə) Definition (Noun) An arbour; a covered walk or shelter (usually in a garden), especially one formed of growing plants trained over a (usually wooden or metal) framework; this framework itself. Also: a small open-sided shelter or sunshade usually consisting of a roof supported on columns. In Context "At the end of the garden there was a place – a pergola dense with briar rose, and behind it a fir where there would be shade from the hot yellow light." Paul Scott, The Day of the Scorpion, 1968.