outhouse: difference between revisions
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#* {{RQ:Orwell Animal Farm|6}} |
#* {{RQ:Orwell Animal Farm|6}} |
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#*: {{...}} plenty of sand and cement had been found in one of the '''outhouses''' |
#*: {{...}} plenty of sand and cement had been found in one of the '''outhouses''' |
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====Usage notes==== |
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Like many terms for places where humans urinate and defecate, the sense of the word ''outhouse'' referring to an outbuilding housing a [[cesspit]] has [[euphemistic]] aspects to its origins (just as {{m|en|privy}}, {{m|en|toilet}}, {{m|en|restroom}}, {{m|en|bathroom}}, {{m|en|necessary}}, and {{m|en|water closet}} also do), as the sense of ''outhouse'' meaning any outbuilding predates the cesspit-building (sub)sense; regardless, as that sense is now the dominant sense, writers now tend to say {{m|en|outbuilding}} when they mean an outbuilding without further specification, to avoid invoking either confusion or (even merely) connotation—which is to say, to avoid even a whiff of the dominant sense. |
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====Synonyms==== |
====Synonyms==== |
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Revision as of 20:42, 1 August 2021
English
Etymology
From Middle English outhous, equivalent to out- + house. Compare Old Norse úthús (“outhouse”).
Noun
outhouse (plural outhouses)
- (Canada, US) An outbuilding—typically permanent—containing a toilet or seat over a cesspit.
- (dated) Any outbuilding: any small structure located apart from a main building.
- 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine[1]:
- There was a considerable outhouse, which he unlocked and we entered.
- 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
- […] plenty of sand and cement had been found in one of the outhouses
Usage notes
Like many terms for places where humans urinate and defecate, the sense of the word outhouse referring to an outbuilding housing a cesspit has euphemistic aspects to its origins (just as privy, toilet, restroom, bathroom, necessary, and water closet also do), as the sense of outhouse meaning any outbuilding predates the cesspit-building (sub)sense; regardless, as that sense is now the dominant sense, writers now tend to say outbuilding when they mean an outbuilding without further specification, to avoid invoking either confusion or (even merely) connotation—which is to say, to avoid even a whiff of the dominant sense.
Synonyms
- (outer building used for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:outhouse
- (any small outer building): See outbuilding
Hypernyms
Derived terms
Translations
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outbuilding — see outbuilding
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms prefixed with out-
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Canadian English
- American English
- English dated terms
- English terms with quotations
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with consonant pseudo-digraphs
- en:Buildings
- en:Rooms
- en:WC