poorhouse
7
8.5
- noun
- /ˈpʊrˌhaʊs/
- Archaic
:
asilo
- The poorhouse provided shelter and food for individuals who had no other means to support themselves.
- county poorhouse
- Poorhouse institution
- Poorhouse population
Examples
-
First, it could serve as a contemporary poorhouse—temporary housing of last resort for the most indigent.
Academic text (1997) -
At the age of 86, he was finally admitted to the poorhouse.
Fiction book (1995) -
Both of us may have been born for the poorhouse... ...but we're not the kind to like it.
-
One week later, he was back in the poorhouse and seeing with both eyes.
Fiction book (1995) -
You kids are gonna put me in the poorhouse.
-
And then it's just one step before the poorhouse.
-
It's my marriage to you that will save them from the poorhouse.
-
The horror of the poorhouse cast a wide shadow.
Academic text (1993) -
I don't want to finish up in the poorhouse!
-
- I mean, you could've at least called and thanked me for keeping you out of the poorhouse.
Synonyms
7
9.9
A place where poor people and minor criminals lived and had to work in the past
1
9.3
A building that gives poor or elderly people free homes
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word poorhouse is made of poor ('not having money') and house ('a place to live'), so it literally meant a 'house for the poor'. These places were often run and paid for by the town to give shelter and support to people who had no home.