almshouse

See also: alms-house

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English almeshous, almassehous, equivalent to alms +‎ house.

Pronunciation

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Noun

almshouse (plural almshouses)

  1. A building of residence for the poor, sick or elderly of a parish. Originally founded by the Church. Usually a charity relying on donations for funding.
    • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 116:
      Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts.

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