flophouse

American

[flop-hous] / ˈflɒpˌhaʊs /

noun

plural

flophouses

a cheap, run-down hotel or rooming house.

flophouse British

/ ˈflɒpˌhaʊs /

noun

Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): dosshouse. slang a cheap lodging house, esp one used by tramps

"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

Etymology

Origin of flophouse

First recorded in 1890–95; flop + house

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Most of them, a few hundred in all, lived in flophouse hotels.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2024

For almost every character, the film is one hardship after another: late buses, empty wallets, a basement flophouse, capricious bullies.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 8, 2023

Sure, your mom might think your bedroom looks like a flophouse, but how many people are in your bedroom regularly?

From Slate • Mar. 10, 2020

On colder nights he would head to a flophouse, colored a bluish- purple next to another church.

From Washington Times • Feb. 24, 2020

Perhaps because he was nervous, or perhaps because he kept moving from one flophouse to another, he couldn’t remember his address.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023