Smokehouse

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsmoʊkˌhaʊs/

Definitions

1. A facility specifically created for the process of preserving meats using smoke for flavoring and curing A structure designed to enhance food preservation through the application of smoke, particularly for meats A dedicated building where foods, especially various meats, are smoked to achieve both preservation and added flavor
2. A building where meats or fish are cured and flavored by exposure to smoke
3. A specially constructed structure intended for the practice of smoking food items to extend their shelf life

Etymology: A smokehouse is exactly what its two parts promise: a building where meat is cured over smoke. The word joins "smoke" and "house," both native English words with ancient Germanic roots, so there is no borrowing from Latin or French to trace. Its plain construction is the point. Smokehouses were ordinary farm outbuildings, built to hold a fire of hardwood or sawdust that dried and flavoured hams, sausages and fish, and the name simply describes that function. Because the word is a transparent compound, its meaning has stayed close to the original. Where "smoke" once referred only to the vapour rising from a fire, English speakers later used it for the act of preserving food this way, and "house" kept its older sense of any shelter or building. The result is a term that names both the structure and the process it housed.

Synonyms: smoker, meat house