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almshouse

[ ahmz-hous ]

noun

, Chiefly British.
, plural alms·hous·es [ahmz, -hou-ziz].
  1. a house endowed by private charity for the reception and support of the aged or infirm poor.
  2. (formerly) a poorhouse.


almshouse

/ ˈɑːmzˌhaʊs /

noun

  1. history a privately supported house offering accommodation to the aged or needy
  2. another name for poorhouse
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of almshouse1

First recorded in 1350–1400, almshouse is from Middle English almes hous. See alms, house
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Example Sentences

I discovered that the cul-de-sac at the end of my road was originally built for a square of almshouses — charitable residences, often funded by church coffers — to alleviate the scandalous poverty of pre-welfare-state Britain.

Elizabeth studied privately with a physician before medical school and between terms observed cases in an almshouse hospital.

With almost 1,200 patients, Laguna Honda Hospital was originally the San Francisco Almshouse, and in a way it still is.

Every county had a free county hospital for the acutely ill, and a free county almshouse for everyone else who needed care.

Once at the wish of a friend I was visiting I went to carry some comforts to a neglected almshouse on a Western prairie.

The poor little dying pauper, lying in her dream at the almshouse, sees the figure of Death.

The most remarkable things that appear here at this day are a mosque, and an almshouse just by it, both built by sultan Ibrahim.

A Hamblyn was still a Hamblyn, though he lived in an almshouse.

I forgot to mention services held in jail and almshouse while in Canon City.

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