Meanings
plural field houses · alternative fieldhouse
- rareA tent.
- CanadaUSA large building for indoor sports, particularly at colleges.
There were herds of leather sofas and enough computers to ensure that no prospective matriculant or visiting parent could enter a room and not see at least one available keyboard, not even in the dining hall or field house.
2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections - CanadaUSA building for equipment storage and changing rooms (locker rooms) by an outdoor sports field.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishfeldhūs“a tent”
- Middle English*feldhous
- Englishfield house
From Middle English *feldhous, from Old English feldhūs (“a tent”), equivalent to field + house. Modern sense is from 1895, originally, a side building by an outdoor sports field, later used for large buildings for indoor sports.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
field house. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/field%20house
“field house.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/field%20house. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “field house,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/field%20house.
Source: field house on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.