Poorhouses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A facility where people without means reside for shelter and sustenance, often run by charitable organizations
2. An establishment providing temporary support to those facing financial hardship or homelessness
3. A place designed to care for the impoverished, offering food and communal living for those in need

Etymology: "Poorhouses" is the plural of "poorhouse," so the story belongs to that compound. The word combines "poor" and "house" in the plainest possible way: a house for the poor. Its literal sense is about as transparent as English compounds get, which is itself a clue to how institutions of this kind were understood, as a named category of building rather than a euphemism. The compound's older parts carry most of the history. "Poor" came into English through Old French "povre" from Latin "pauper," a word that originally meant having little property, and "house" is an Old English word with deep Germanic roots. Put together, the pair describes a place defined by who lived in it rather than by what it was built for.

Synonyms: workhouses, asylums