big house
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See also: bighouse
English
Alternative forms
- (religious building): bighouse
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
big house (plural big houses)
- (slang) Prison, jail.
- 1948, "The End of Bad Boy Collins," Time, 15 Nov.,
- He was 38 years old and had been in the big house twice for shooting scrapes.
- 1948, "The End of Bad Boy Collins," Time, 15 Nov.,
- (slang, obsolete) The workhouse.
- A religious building of the Delaware Indians, representing the cosmos.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see big, house.
Usage notes
- Always preceded by "the".