big house

See also: bighouse

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Noun

big house (plural big houses)

  1. (slang) Prison, jail.
    • 1948 November 15, “The End of Bad Boy Collins”, in Time:
      He was 38 years old and had been in the big house twice for shooting scrapes.
  2. (slang, obsolete) The workhouse.
  3. A religious building of the Delaware Indians, representing the cosmos.
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see big,‎ house.

Usage notes
  • In slang, always preceded by "the".
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