backhouse
See also: back-house, back house, and Backhouse
English
Alternative forms
- back-house, back house
Etymology
From back + house.
Noun
backhouse (plural backhouses)
- (now dialect) An outbuilding behind the main building.
- 1557, Edinburgh Burgh Records, Vol. III, p. 17:
- […] to abstene […] fra all melting […] of talloun within thair bak hous […]
- 1557, Edinburgh Burgh Records, Vol. III, p. 17:
- (US, Canada, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
- 1847, Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language:
- BACK'HOUSE... a necessary.
- 1939, Christopher Morley, chapter II, in Kitty Foyle, page 23:
- […] the chlorides Mother was always throwing into the little outdoor backhouse […]
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Synonyms
- (outhouse): backside (UK); see also Thesaurus:bathroom
Hypernyms
- backside
- house
- outbuilding
Descendants
- → French: bécosse
References
- Oxford English Dictionary. "back-house, n."
Anagrams
- houseback