coffeehouse

American  

[kaw-fee-hous, kof-ee-] / ˈkɔ fiˌhaʊs, ˈkɒf i- /

noun

plural

coffeehouses

1. a public place that specializes in serving coffee and other refreshments and that sometimes provides informal entertainment.

2. (in 17th- and 18th-century England) a similar establishment where groups met for a particular purpose, as for informal discussions or card playing.

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verb (used without object)

coffeehoused, coffeehousing

1. Informal. to engage in aimless talk or chitchat.

2. Cards. to make remarks and gestures during play with the purpose of misleading opponents as to the cards one holds.

Other Word Forms

• coffeehouser noun

Etymology

Origin of coffeehouse

First recorded in 1605–15; coffee + house

Example Sentences

The company does have long-term ambitions to open as many as 5,000 new U.S. coffeehouses, but in the near term it needs to pull internal growth levers.

From The Wall Street Journal

"In the mornings, when the school bus comes, dust rises everywhere," Polat, 52, told AFP at a local coffeehouse.

From Barron's

Busy markets sold butchered meats and fast-wilting vegetables, horse carts clattered, children shouted, and men and women gossiped in coffeehouses and read from printed newspapers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Consider Joseph Morgan III. Born in 1780 into a Welsh immigrant family that became successful Massachusetts farmers, he sold the farm and invested in a Hartford, Conn., coffeehouse and stagecoach line.

From Barron's

Consider Joseph Morgan III. Born in 1780 into a Welsh immigrant family that became successful Massachusetts farmers, he sold the farm and invested in a Hartford, Conn., coffeehouse and stagecoach line.

From Barron's

Related Words

• coffee bar