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cathouse

cathouse

7 9.6
A place where people pay for sex
  • noun
  • /ˈkæthaʊs/
  • Offensive
translation icon : burdel
  • What's a town without a cathouse?

Examples

  • Your own personal cathouse.

  • That was the only cathouse in town.

  • It is the biggest cathouse east of Port Said, man.

  • So, I open up a cathouse in Des Moines.

  • Burnside hopes to die exhausted in a cathouse with the sweet taste of bourbon on his tongue.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Paula's brother Jerry told her that Jimmy Kogan drove out with friends to the cathouses of Kankakee and Braidwood, Illinois, on weekends.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The old cathouse at the end of the street was notorious for its dubious clientele.

  • Last night, we passed by a bustling cathouse filled with laughter and music.

  • He often mentioned the cathouse where he used to work years ago.

Synonyms

brothel
vscathouse
  • NSFW
77 6.3

A place where people pay to have sex with prostitutes

is a more slang and informal term for that same place
whorehouse
vscathouse
  • NSFW
42 7.8

A building where people pay to have sex with prostitutes

is a rougher, more vulgar label for the same kind of place
bordello
vscathouse
  • NSFW
9 9.6

A building where people pay to have sex

is a slang or coarse word rather than a neutral term
house of ill repute
vscathouse
  • NSFW
2 8.9

A place where people pay to have sex

is more narrowly a slang label for that kind of establishment
house of prostitution
vscathouse
  • NSFW
1 7.6

A building where people pay for sex

is a less formal, more slang expression for that location
sporting house
vscathouse
  • NSFW
9.9

A house where people pay for sex

is a more colloquial and blunt label for that kind of house
bawdyhouse
vscathouse
  • NSFW
9.9

A house where people go to pay for sex

is similarly blunt but often used more crudely in speech
bagnio
vscathouse
  • NSFW
9.9

A building where people pay for sex

is the modern slang form rather than a historical label

Surface Forms

cathouse singular
cathouses plural

Morphology

cathouse = cat + house (opaque) = cat + house

Although composed of 'cat' + 'house', the meaning 'brothel' is an idiomatic/metaphorical sense unlikely to be derived by an average learner from the components.

Etymology

The word cathouse is old slang for a brothel and probably comes from the slang use of cat for certain women in the 1800s, so it was imagined as a house 'of cats' — an easy picture to remember. That's why cathouse means 'a place where prostitutes are available'.