English edit

Etymology edit

stink +‎ house

Noun edit

stinkhouse (plural stinkhouses)

  1. (slang, derogatory) Any offensively unclean building.
    • 1962, James Clavell, King Rat:
      'It is superb advice. I am happy with the thought of my friend. Because of this thought and the friendship I hold for him, let me offer fifteen hundred dollars. It is all the money I have in the world, plus some money entrusted to me by my friend who is with the sickness of women in the stink-house called a hospital and who cannot work for himself.'
    • 2011, David von Beck, Coal, page 101:
      Was this place ever a tar-stained stinkhouse like the general's? No, I couldn't believe that any paint, no matter how many coats and how thick, could cover that stench. It seeps, becomes part of the building, redefines its fate.