noun

workhouse

noun

Historically, an institution where poor people were housed and required to work in exchange for food and shelter.

"Many orphans in Victorian England ended up in the workhouse."

A prison where inmates are required to perform manual labor as part of their sentence.

"He was sentenced to six months in the workhouse."

How to Use Workhouse

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA historical institution, associated especially with Victorian Britain, where the poor lived and worked; also a labor prison.

Common pairings

sent to the workhouse Victorian workhouse

workhoused past tense, workhouses plural, workhouses singular

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Many orphans in Victorian England ended up in the _____.

From Old English "weorchūs," literally "work house" — a building for manufacturing or, later, for housing the poor who worked there.

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