From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishworkhousework‧house /ˈwɜːkhaʊs $ ˈwɜːrk-/ noun [countable] PEWTBBa building in Britain in the past where very poor people lived if they had nowhere else to go 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 parish destitutes.• A fairly serious outbreak occurred 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 workhouse master.• 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 workhouse test by denying relief to those who refused to enter. 