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panel house

American  

noun

  1. a brothel having rooms with secret entrances, as sliding panels, for admitting panel thieves.

Etymology

Origin of panel house

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

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.

If detected the entire house has conferred upon it the name of panel house, and is ever afterwards described and known as such in police and court records.

From Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations The Veil Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its Causes, and Criminals and their Haunts. Facts and Disclosures. by Howe, William F.

But they had to have some distinctive appellation, and "panel house" is a convenient generic term.

From Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations The Veil Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its Causes, and Criminals and their Haunts. Facts and Disclosures. by Howe, William F.

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.