coffeehouse

[kaw-fee-hous, kof-ee-]

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

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

Informal. to engage in aimless talk or chitchat.

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

RELATED WORDS

First recorded in 1605–15; coffee + house

Related formscof·fee·hous·er, noun

She suggested that Gregory stack newspapers on his desk to give the set an intimate, coffeehouse feel.
David Gregory's 'Meet the Press' Eviction Exposed in Washingtonian Takedown|Lloyd Grove|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the morning, join the intelligentsia at Cafe Pamplona, a European-style coffeehouse, also by Harvard Square.
The U.S. Road Trips You Should Really Take|Lonely Planet|April 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Everyone always compares writing to war,” he said over a tall iced tea at a west Los Angeles coffeehouse recently.
The Movie Redemption of ‘Men in Black 3’ Scribe Etan Cohen|Chris Lee|May 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The British Spectator speculates on its Coffeehouse blog about a Rand Paul vice presidential nomination.
The Dream Ticket for Obama's Re-Election|David Frum|March 15, 2012|DAILY BEAST

“This tape empowered me,” Laurer said between sips of iced tea in a busy West Los Angeles coffeehouse.
From Wrestling to Porn|Chris Lee|June 28, 2011|DAILY BEAST
All the newsletters, all the coffeehouse orators, complained that the blood of the poor was shed with impunity by the great.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay
The story is again taken up in a coffeehouse in Vienna where Bollman is accustomed to go.
Lafayette|Martha Foote Crow
He had played briscola with peasants in a coffeehouse of Fiesole.
The Red Lily, Complete|Anatole France
As the clock-hand pointed to ten, she heard both quite near—outside Lloyd's Coffeehouse, evidently.
Somehow Good|William de Morgan
An impertinent petit-maitre told a country gentleman in a coffeehouse at the west end of the town that he looked like a groom.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 5, May 1810|Various