workhouse

[ wurk-hous ]

/ ˈwɜrkˌhaʊs /

noun, plural work·hous·es [wurk-hou-ziz] /ˈwɜrkˌhaʊ zɪz/.

a house of correction.

British. (formerly) a poorhouse in which paupers were given work.

Obsolete. a workshop.

Nearby words

workfare, workflow, workfolk, workforce, workhorse, workhouse, working, working asset, working bee, working capital, working class

Origin of workhouse

before 1100; Middle English werkhous, Old English weorchūs workshop. See work, house

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for workhouse

I, who have kept you out of the workhouse, treated you like my own child?
Yeast: A Problem|Charles Kingsley
In all the unions of the other region, such women, unless included in certain exceptions, can be relieved only in the workhouse.
English Poor Law Policy|Sidney Webb
But if you tell the truth and say he's the decent fellow he is, he'll land you in the workhouse!
The Foolish Lovers|St. John G. Ervine
I have spoken of the little girls I found scrubbing the workhouse floors.
My Own Story|Emmeline Pankhurst

This cemetery adjoins the workhouse, and the ground was the gift of Sir Hans Sloane.
Chelsea|George Bryan

British Dictionary definitions for workhouse

workhouse

/ (ˈwɜːkˌhaʊs) /

noun

(formerly in England) an institution maintained at public expense where able-bodied paupers did unpaid work in return for food and accommodation

(in the US) a prison for petty offenders serving short sentences at manual labour

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012