glasshouse
Americannoun
-
glasshouses
plural
-
a glassworks.
-
Chiefly British. a green-house.
-
British Informal. a military prison.
noun
-
a glass building, esp a greenhouse, used for growing plants in protected or controlled conditions
-
obsolete a military detention centre
-
another word for glassworks
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of glasshouse
First recorded in 1350–1400, glasshouse is from Middle English glas hous. See glass, 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.
See Examples For:
“There’s something out there that thinks a corpse flower smells like heaven,” said Marc Hachadourian, director of glasshouse horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, which hosted a corpse flower bloom last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
They added this yeast to bee diets and tested it over three months in controlled glasshouse experiments.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 27, 2026
“Santa Maria will be one of the last growing areas in California before everything probably goes glasshouse or indoor in places like Detroit or Chicago or New Jersey,” Harrison said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2022
Fiona Inches, glasshouse supervisor for the Edinburgh Biomes Initiative, said the work was vital because the current condition of the buildings meant the plants were vulnerable.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2021
They have already begun to build a glasshouse a little way from our fort, with a large furnace for glassmaking.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
![]()
The Victorian glasshouses nurture fattening peaches, while in the main garden beyond, a tower of water bursts up into the sky—the highest powered fountain in England.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
After growing in glasshouses, harvesting and polishing the rice grains, they found that the vitamin B1 content was increased in rice grains from these lines.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 11, 2024
Crafted in Lancashire, England, where the company, Hartley Botanic, has been manufacturing glasshouses since 1938, the Patio is available in 15 colors. $4,400 at hartley-botanic.com.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2023
Dr Sarah Schiffling, a supply chain expert from the Hanken School in Helsinki, told us the season for growing tomatoes in UK glasshouses is about nine months a year.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2023
It encompassed not only the vast archives, but the university, too, together with laboratories and glasshouses, medical theaters and music rooms, and even a celestial observatory.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.