Meanings
plural whorehouses · alternative whore-house
- vulgarBrothel.
The Towne Hall is a big inflatable building in the middle of the Snooze ’n’ Crusie. It is Derelict Las Vegas: convenience store, video arcade, laundromat, bar, liquor store, flea market, whorehouse.
1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 276
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna building where prostitutes are available
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishhorehous
- Englishwhorehouse
From Middle English horehous, equivalent to whore + house. Cognate with Dutch hoerenhuis (“whorehouse”), German Hurenhaus (“whorehouse”), Danish horehus (“whorehouse”), Swedish horhus (“whorehouse”), Icelandic hóruhús (“whorehouse; brothel”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
whorehouse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whorehouse
“whorehouse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whorehouse. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whorehouse,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whorehouse.
Source: whorehouse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.