booby house

noun

booby-hatch; lunatic asylum

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Meanings

nounbooby house (plural booby houses)

plural booby houses

  1. derogatoryslangbooby-hatch; lunatic asylum

    As for taking the kinks out of weak backs, straightening them out and tightening them up around the waist, that's old stuff in all the booby houses where the keepers clap the patients in strait jackets.

    1929, International Molders' and Foundry Workers' Journal

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
funny farmlaughing academyloony binlunatic asylummadhousemental asylummental hospitalnuthousepsychiatric hospital
Cite this entry
APA

booby house. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/booby%20house

MLA

“booby house.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/booby%20house. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “booby house,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/booby%20house.

Source: booby house on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.