warehouse

American  

[wair-hous, wair-houz, -hous] / ˈwɛərˌhaʊs, ˈwɛərˌhaʊz, -ˌhaʊs /

noun

plural

warehouses

1. a building, or a part of one, for the storage of goods, merchandise, etc.

2. British. a large retail store.

3. a building, or a part of one, in which wholesalers keep large stocks of merchandise, which they display and sell to retailers.

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verb (used with object)

warehoused, warehousing

1. to place, deposit, or store in a warehouse.

2. to set aside or accumulate, as for future use.

3. to place in a government or bonded warehouse, to be kept until duties are paid.

4. Informal. to confine (the mentally ill) to large institutions for long-term custodial care.

warehouse British  

noun

1. a place where goods are stored prior to their use, distribution, or sale

2. See bonded warehouse

3. a large commercial, esp wholesale, establishment

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verb

1. (tr) to store or place in a warehouse, esp a bonded warehouse

Other Word Forms

• miniwarehouse noun

Etymology

Origin of warehouse

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; ware ¹, house

Explanation

A warehouse is a place where a company stores things they are going to sell. If you order a book online, it is almost certainly shipped from a warehouse to your house. When a business has to store a lot of items, they often use a warehouse, or a large building, to keep them safe and organized until they're sold or made into a finished product. You can use the word warehouse as a verb, too: "I need to warehouse all these roller skates, because they're not selling as fast as I'd hoped." Warehouse combines ware, or "manufactured goods," and house. In other words, it's a place to house your wares.

Example Sentences

Tuesday in a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in Ontario, where 20 other people were working.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

A massive fire burning inside a Kimberly Clark paper products facility in Ontario collapsed a warehouse roof and forced firefighters to retreat early Tuesday as flames consumed the 1.2-million square foot structure.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

The first warehouse at the site opened in 2015, dedicated to distributing medications from a laboratory of the pharmaceuticals firm STADA.

From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026

Miller, whose 50-acre grassy horse farm sits just across the road from the Social Circle warehouse, said officials had not done due diligence on selected locations.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

By the time the road came around into East Hampden I was wondering seriously if I could make it to the warehouse, and what I would do when I got there.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt