poorhouse
(formerly) an institution in which paupers were maintained at public expense.
Origin of poorhouse
1Words Nearby poorhouse
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use poorhouse in a sentence
For these people, under the older dispensation, there was nothing but the poorhouse, the jail or starvation by the roadside.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockI don't much like to say the poorhouse, where I was took after my folks died, and I hate to say Mrs. Stott's truck-farm.
Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn RaymondWhen we arrived at Posen we took up our quarters in the Jewish poorhouse, the master of which was a poor jobbing tailor.
Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography. | Solomon MaimonBut it would mean all the difference between penury and dread of the poorhouse on the one hand and safety on the other to David.
Dominie Dean | Ellis Parker ButlerIn a few weeks, they got on so well that they began to take their relations and friends out of that terrible poorhouse.
The College, the Market, and the Court | Caroline H. Dall
British Dictionary definitions for poorhouse
/ (ˈpʊəˌhaʊs, ˈpɔː-) /
(formerly) a publicly maintained institution offering accommodation to the poor
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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