backhouse

See also: back-house, back house, and Backhouse

English

Alternative forms

back-house, back house

Etymology

From back +‎ house.

Noun

backhouse (plural backhouses)

(now dialect) An outbuilding behind the main building.
- 1557, Edinburgh Burgh Records, Vol. III, p. 17:
  […] to abstene […] fra all melting […] of talloun within thair bak hous […]
(US, Canada, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
- 1847, Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language:
  BACK'HOUSE... a necessary.
- 1939, Christopher Morley, chapter II, in Kitty Foyle, page 23:
  […] the chlorides Mother was always throwing into the little outdoor backhouse […]

Synonyms

(outhouse): backside (UK); see also Thesaurus:bathroom

Hypernyms

Descendants

→ French: bécosse

References

Oxford English Dictionary. "back-house, n."

Anagrams

houseback

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