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Glite Dictionary
oast house

oast house

9.9
A building with a cone-shaped roof where they dry hops for beer
  • noun
  • UK
: casa de secado
  • We visited a traditional oast house to learn how hops were dried for brewing.

Examples

  • Many oast houses have distinctive conical roofs and white cowls.

  • The old oast house in Kent has been converted into a family home.

  • The oast house is beautiful.

  • Many oast houses are found in Kent.

  • We visited a traditional oast house to learn how hops were dried for brewing.

  • The old oast house in Kent has been converted into a family home.

  • Many oast houses have distinctive conical roofs and white cowls.

Synonyms

oast
vsoast house
  • UK
1 9.9

A building with a cone roof where farmers dry hops for making beer

is the building usually with a conical roof that houses the kiln

Surface Forms

oast house singular
oast houses plural

Morphology

oast + house

If a learner knows 'oast' (a kiln for drying hops) and 'house' (a building), they can directly infer that an 'oast house' is a building used for drying hops; the meaning is compositional and follows the common noun+noun compound pattern. Although 'oast' is an infrequent lexical item, the MWE's semantics are transparent given knowledge of both constituents.

Etymology

Oast house comes from farm buildings used to dry hops for making beer. An oast was the drying place and the tall cone roofs with little white vents let warm air pass through the hops, so the name means a 'house for drying hops'.