backhouse

See also: back-house and back house

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From back and back- +‎ house.

Noun

backhouse (plural backhouses)

  1. (now dialect) An outbuilding behind the main building.
  2. (US and 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...

Synonyms

  • (outhouse): backside (UK); see also Thesaurus:bathroom

Hypernyms

Descendants

References

  • Oxford English Dictionary. "back-house, n."

Anagrams

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