boardinghouse

American  

[bawr-ding-hous, bohr-] / ˈbɔr dɪŋˌhaʊs, ˈboʊr- /

Or boarding house

noun

plural

boardinghouses

1. a house at which board or board and lodging may be obtained for payment.

---

Etymology

Origin of boardinghouse

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

At Mrs. Riley’s boardinghouse, Ryui is taken under the wing of Torajiro “Jack” Baba, a cynical photographer with an avant-garde aesthetic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

Jones, who was so brilliant in Daniel’s production of “King Hedley II” at A Noise Within is just as luminous here as the calming force at the boardinghouse.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2025

Years later, she expressed regret about the way she had depicted a Black character who lives at the boardinghouse with the protagonist.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 12, 2024

Based on the 1979 novel of the same name by William Styron, this Academy Award-nominated film follows the increasingly intersected lives of three residents in a Brooklyn boardinghouse in 1947.

From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2023

And clutching her treasure, she ran from the shop and would have run all the way back to the boardinghouse except that she realized that people on the street were turning to stare.

From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson