meeting house

American  

[mee-ting hous] / ˈmi tɪŋ ˌhaʊs /

Or meeting-house,

noun

1. a house or other building for communal gathering, especially a place of Protestant worship. Common in Colonial America for both public business and religious worship, a meeting house today is usually a place of worship for Quakers, Mennonites, Mormons, or certain other nonconformist denominations.

---

meeting house British  

noun

1. the place in which certain religious groups, esp Quakers, hold their meetings for worship

2. Also called: wharepuni.  a large Māori tribal hall

---

Etymology

Origin of meeting house

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

The meeting house grows progressively more dilapidated, and the costumes get shabbier, indicating that things aren’t going well for the Puritans.

From The Wall Street Journal

The chimney was located atop a former Boy Scouts meeting house currently used as public works department storage, according to Salcedo.

From Los Angeles Times

Quakers in Britain has said the arrests for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, were the first at a meeting house "in living memory".

From BBC

In its new meeting house, which is roofed with branches and leaves in the traditional style, waits Tito López, the community's sayla – or leader.

From BBC

She said the Quaker religion remains prominent, with one of the oldest meeting houses in the USA "a lovely example of Welsh architecture of the early 18th Century".

From BBC

Related Words

• gathering place