n. — Housing
one-room apartment with separate bathroom; abbreviation for bachelor apartment or bachelor suite.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — This abbreviation for bachelor apartment is also used in South Africa, and although the full term bachelor apartment is most prevalent in South Africa (see entry for bachelor apartment), it appears that the shortened form bachelor is somewhat most frequent in Canada (see Chart 1).
See also COD-2, s.v. "bachelor" (3), which is marked "Cdn", and OED-3, s.v. "bachelor" (C1b) and (4e), which is marked "Canad.".
See also: bachelorette apartment bachelor apartment
- 1945  [Classified Advertisement] BACHELOR Apartment wanted by demobilized naval officer returned from five years overseas.
- 1963  Bachelor 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units. Hardwood floors throughout, and all conveniences Contact Mrs. Holland 1130 Kingfisher. 
- 1971  [Real Estate ad:] BACHELOR $17,900-Efficiency - convenience - space - all brightly packaged into this sparkling suite (the kitchen even has a window) [...]
- 1978  Each suite would include kitchen, sleeping, sitting and bathing facilities. Bachelor suites would be available for single persons and one-bedroom units for couples. 
- 1984  Highland Centre has only one-bedroom apartments and apartments with a moveable wall to convert a bachelor into a small one-bedroom. 
- 2003  This is not, strictly speaking, affordable housing - with rent for the 354-square-foot bachelor running at $1,300, [...] 
- 2007  She says she was also lucky that her tiny apartment provides a lot of extra storage space. "I don't know how they carved out a walk-in closet in a 440-square-foot bachelor, but they did it," Yu says. 
Images:
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 25 Sep. 2013