longhouse
See also: long-house and long house
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From long + house. Use for outhouses possibly via Whittington's Longhouse, a public toilet in medieval London, but first attested in translation of a similar French expression.
Noun edit
longhouse (plural longhouses)
- A long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Vikings, and many other peoples.
- 1751, C. Gist, Journals, page 51:
- They marched in under French Colours and were conducted into the Long House.
- 1753, George Washington, Diary, volume I, page 50:
- We met in Council at the Long House.
- 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, Vol. I, Preface, p. vi:
- ... where the ‘long house’, or Great Council Fire, of the nation was universally admitted to be established.
- 1894 May 1, Sarawak Gazette, page 67:
- The practice of herding together in ‘long houses’ prevents mental and moral improvement and hinders advance in gardening and planting and agricultural developement generally.
- 1912, Hose & al., Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. I, Ch. iv:
- The Kenyah village frequently consists of a single long house.
- 1966, G.E. Evans, chapter V, in Pattern under Plough, page 72:
- The Welsh long-houses... with long sides and opposite doors providing a passage from side to side, and dividing the building roughly in two.
- 1971 July 15, Lady, page 88:
- The longhouse is an object lesson in community living.
- 2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 29:
- One day our neighbours came back from a trip into the jungle to visit relatives who still lived in an old-style "long house".
- (obsolete, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used for urination and defecation.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bathroom
- 1622, M. Alemán, chapter II, in J. Mabbe, transl., Rogue, page 355:
- To make wads and wisps for those that go to the Long-house (you know what I meane).
Hypernyms edit
Translations edit
communal dwelling
|
outhouse — see outhouse
References edit
- Oxford English Dictionary. "long, adj.1 and n."