PEWTBBa building in Britain in the past where very poor people lived if they had nowhere else to go 〔英国旧时的〕济贫院,救贫院SYN poorhouse
Examples from the Corpus
workhouse• There were not enough workhouses to cope with the problem.• Oh yeah, that's when it got its own workhouse, too, for the parishdestitutes.• A fairly seriousoutbreakoccurred in 1928 at the workhouse.• Paupers were often taken back from the workhouse to their own parishes for burial.• The deceased said he never would go into the workhouse.• The visitors' committee did not always support the workhousemaster.• That's why they built the cemetery up close to the workhouse, so they could take them over on a barrow.• The Workhouse Act of 1723 had empowered parishes to apply a workhousetest by denyingrelief to those who refused to enter.