workhouse

[ wurk-hous ]

noun,plural work·hous·es [wurk-hou-ziz]. /ˈwɜrkˌhaʊ zɪz/.
  1. a house of correction.

  2. British. (formerly) a poorhouse in which paupers were given work.

  1. Obsolete. a workshop.

Origin of workhouse

1
before 1100; Middle English werkhous,Old English weorchūs workshop. See work, house

Words Nearby workhouse

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

How to use workhouse in a sentence

  • It is sad to find how many of the old favourites of the music-hall fall upon evil times, and even die in the workhouse.

  • The little bullet-headed Jim was drafted off to the workhouse school, and from thence to a small fishing-smack.

    The Chequers | James Runciman
  • The Central Authority was directed to make rules, etc., "for the education of the children" in the workhouse.

  • Inside the workhouse, the "able-bodied" (in the workhouse sense) are divided simply into male and female.

  • A more difficult question was whether a man could continue to receive relief in the workhouse if his wife insisted on leaving it.

British Dictionary definitions for workhouse

workhouse

/ (ˈwɜːkˌhaʊs) /


noun
  1. (formerly in England) an institution maintained at public expense where able-bodied paupers did unpaid work in return for food and accommodation

  2. (in the US) a prison for petty offenders serving short sentences at manual labour

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