hash house

noun

, Slang.

1. an inexpensive restaurant, diner, or the like, that serves a limited number of short-order dishes:

   We stopped for lunch at a roadside hash house.

hash house

noun

1. slang.
   a cheap café or restaurant

Word History and Origins

Origin of hash house¹

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

It’s another hash house on the road to success.

From Los Angeles Times

“But rather than turn the Colony into a hash house, I prefer to close.”

From New York Times

Look here, mum, I want to go back to the beginning, to when I was a kid, an' mother kep' that hash house in Abilene.

From Project Gutenberg

We get pitched out of five before I steer him to a hash house.

From Project Gutenberg

Having asked me to eat with him at a ten-cent hash house, he inveigled me to an evening service, and for the warmth I went with him.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bistro
• cafeteria
• coffee shop
• diner