Pothouse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An inexpensive and often disreputable place where alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed
2. A low-quality tavern or bar known for cheap drinks and a rough reputation
3. A modest public house typically regarded as seedy or undesirable for drinking

Etymology: "Pothouse" is a plain compound of "pot" and "house," and its sense has moved a long way from the parts. "Pot" here is the ordinary drinking vessel, so a pothouse was originally a house where pots, meaning drinks or tankards, were served. The word settled into describing the cheap, rough kind of drinking establishment, the sort of place a respectable person might avoid. The "house" half keeps its everyday meaning, while the "pot" half carries the old sense of a tankard or pot of ale. The compound's pejorative shading came from what such places were like in use, not from any change in the parts themselves.