workhouse Hear it!

workhouse definition

work·house (-ho̵us′)

noun

  1. Obsolete a workshop (sense )
  2. Historical in England, a poorhouse in which able residents had to work
  3. ☆ a kind of prison, where petty offenders are confined and made to work

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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