Link Centre Dictionary

workhouse

work·house

uncommon archaic uk us

noun

1.

a poorhouse where able-bodied poor are compelled to labor

2.

a county jail that holds prisoners for periods up to 18 months

Origin

From Middle English werkhous, from Old English weorchūs (“workshop, place of manufacture”), from Proto-Germanic *werkahūsą, equivalent to work + house.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.