glasshouse
glasshouse Lexical Profile
glasshouse Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British A building constructed chiefly of glass, used for cultivating and protecting tender or out-of-season plants; a greenhouse.
"The botanical garden features a Victorian glasshouse filled with rare tropical orchids and ferns."
A factory or workshop where glass is manufactured.
"Archaeologists uncovered the remains of a seventeenth-century glasshouse near the riverbank."
British A military prison or detention center (informal).
"He was sentenced to twenty-eight days in the glasshouse for being absent without leave."
• Rhymes for glasshouse
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the 16th century as a compound of "glass" and "house," originally referring to a glassworks factory and later to a greenhouse. The British military slang sense meaning "prison" emerged in the early 20th century from the glazed roof of the military detention barracks at Aldershot.