counting house

American  

noun

1. a building or office used by the accounting and bookkeeping department of a business.

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counting house British  

noun

1. rare a room or building used by the accountants of a business

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Etymology

Origin of counting house

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Example Sentences

The counting house trained the next generation of merchants, creating a distinct white-collar class.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

“It’s like looking for gold coins, except you know where the king’s counting house used to be.”

From BBC • May 30, 2024

Think, as some have suggested, of a dusty leather-bound ledger in a Dickensian counting house, a record of every transaction relevant to that practice.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 15, 2018

He would never have left the counting house if one of his rivals had delivered the message, and sounded as if he meant it.

From Washington Times • Aug. 6, 2015

Surely by now enough time had passed since John Hancock’s arrival at his counting house so that he would be ready to talk to a likely boy looking for work.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes