Meanings
nounflash house (plural flash houses)
plural flash houses
- obsoleteA brothel.
He's getting his pleasure. You won't get a virgin in the flash houses.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 4201 more example
A gang of footpads, revelling with their favourite beauties at a flash-house.
1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England
Origin
Because frequented by flash or showy people, such as thieves and whores.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
flash house. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flash%20house
MLA
“flash house.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flash%20house. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flash house,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flash%20house.
Source: flash house on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.