sporting house


noun
  1. Older Use. a brothel.

  2. Archaic. an establishment, as a tavern, inn, or the like, catering to gamblers or sportsmen.

Origin of sporting house

1
First recorded in 1855–60

Words Nearby sporting house

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sporting house in a sentence

  • It is a well-known sporting-house, and the breakfasts are famous.

    Tom Brown's School Days | Thomas Hughes
  • The Waggon and Horses was a well-known sporting house, with an old prize-fighter for landlord.

    Rodney Stone | Arthur Conan Doyle
  • In the evening I went to a sporting house on Twenty-seventh Street, where a number of guns hung out.

    The Autobiography of a Thief | Hutchins Hapgood
  • Knightsbridge Grove, approached through a stately avenue of trees from the road, was a sporting-house.

  • In the sporting house also she is preferred as a servant, her dark complexion separating her from other inmates.

    Half a Man | Mary White Ovington

British Dictionary definitions for sporting house

sporting house

noun
  1. US rare a euphemistic word for brothel

  2. archaic a tavern or inn frequented by gamblers or other sportsmen

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