Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

foundling hospital

American  

noun

  1. an institutional home for foundlings.


Etymology

Origin of foundling hospital

First recorded in 1750–60


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.

See Examples For:

Eighteenth-century parents adopted Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas about “natural” parenting—cold air is good for a child!—even though he’d left all five of his children at a foundling hospital.

From The New Yorker ● May 27, 2019

In this case, our heroine was a feisty little girl, and the place she longed to escape was a foundling hospital in Victorian England.

From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2015

The youth discovers his child in a foundling hospital and steals it; he is pursued by the daughter of a boardinghouse keeper and also by his fiancee.

From Time Magazine Archive

Be fore he died in 1639, Brother Martin had established an orphanage and foundling hospital.

From Time Magazine Archive

If there's a lot in life I 'd call enviable, it would be to be born in a foundling hospital, and inherit ten thousand a year.

From The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Charles James Lever

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Just like flashcards, but way more fun

Don't take our word for it. Leave the boring studying behind and join VocabTrainer today. You'll learn even faster and never look back.

Take me to Vocabulary.com