Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A poorhouse.
- n. Chiefly British A home for the poor that is maintained by private charity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A house appropriated for the use of the poor who are supported by the public or by a revenue derived from private endowment; a poor-house. In the United States almshouse and poorhouse are synonymous, meaning only a house for the common residence ‘of the publicly supported paupers of a town or county. In Great Britain almshouses are generally a number of small dwellings built together, supported by private endowment, for the use of respectable persons reduced to poverty, buildings for public paupers being called
workhouses or poorhouses.
Wiktionary
- n. 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.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A house appropriated for the use of the poor; a poorhouse.
Examples
“Opened in 1736, the almshouse was a homeless shelter, jail, and workhouse rolled into one.”
“Younger inmates tended to remain for only short periods of time; for them the almshouse was a temporary refuge in times of crisis or unemployment.”
“The almshouse, which is now called by various names, the county home, the county infirmary, etc., ceased to be the repository for all types of delinquents, and for children, and became an institution primarily for the care of the aged and infirm.”
“The almshouse was the commonest form of relief, and even recently, it has been described as the fundamental institution of American poor relief.”
“Berks historian George M. M.iser IX said the records show the almshouse was a safety net for the poor, the mentally ill and those rendered helpless by old age.”
“Because of the length of the original rosary, it became customary to pay someone, usually a resident of an almshouse, to recite the prayers.”
“He left a financial legacy which he hoped would be used to support less fortunate artists, planning and designing an almshouse for them in Twickenham.”
The Guardian: A legacy Turner would have approved of | Charles Saatchi
“Hals may well have been able to imagine this feeling, for although he never lived in the almshouse, he was very poor in his final years, and may have considered entering the home.”
The Huffington Post: David Galenson: Visiting the Oldest Dutch Master: The Frans Hals Museum
“Both made in 1664, when Hals was 81 or 82, one portrays the regents of Haarlem's old men's almshouse, the other the regentesses.”
The Huffington Post: David Galenson: Visiting the Oldest Dutch Master: The Frans Hals Museum
“If you remain in the slum you will become worthless and degraded members of society, and, after much suffering, you will end in the public hospital, the almshouse, the prison, or the morgue.”
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