poorhouse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: an institution maintained to house and support poor or homeless people, often under harsh conditions

   Without wages or relatives, he feared that his family would be sent to the poorhouse.

A compound of poor + house. Poorhouses were institutions funded by parishes or local authorities for people unable to support themselves; in Britain the term often overlapped with workhouse, while North American systems also used poor farm.

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