longhouse

See also: long-house and long house

English

Model of a Viking longhouse from Bronze Age

Alternative forms

long house, long-house

Etymology

From long +‎ house. Use for outhouses possibly via Whittington's Longhouse, a public toilet in medieval London, but first attested in translation of a similar French expression.

Noun

longhouse (plural longhouses)

A long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malays, the Indonesians, the Vikings, and many other peoples.
- 1751, C. Gist, Journals, p. 51:
  They marched in under French Colours and were conducted into the Long House.
- 1753, George Washington, Diary, Vol. I, p. 50:
  We met in Council at the Long House.
- 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, Last of Mohicans, Vol. I, Preface, p. vi:
  ... where the ‘long house’, or Great Council Fire, of the nation was universally admitted to be established.
- 1894 May 1, Sarawak Gazette, p. 67:
  The practice of herding together in ‘long houses’ prevents mental and moral improvement and hinders advance in gardening and planting and agricultural developement generally.
- 1912, Hose & al., Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. I, Ch. iv:
  The Kenyah village frequently consists of a single long house.
- 1966, G.E. Evans, Pattern under Plough, Ch. v, p. 72:
  The Welsh long-houses... with long sides and opposite doors providing a passage from side to side, and dividing the building roughly in two.
- 1971 July 15, Lady, p. 88:
  The longhouse is an object lesson in community living.
(obsolete, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used for urination and defecation.
- 1622, J. Mabbe translating M. Alemán's Rogue, Ch. ii, p. 355:
  To make wads and wisps for those that go to the Long-house (you know what I meane).

Synonyms

(outhouse): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Hypernyms

house

Hypernyms

house

Translations

communal dwelling

Czech: dlouhý dům m
Finnish: pitkätalo

Malay: rumah panjang
Montana Salish: usšnéɫxʷ

outhouse — see outhouse

References

Oxford English Dictionary. "long, adj.¹ and n."