English

Alternative forms

• long house, long-house

Noun

longhouse ‎(plural longhouses)

1. A long house, particularly the long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malays, and the Indonesians.
   • 1751, C. Gist, Journals, p. 51:

     They marched in under French Colours and were conducted into the Long House.

   • 1753, George Washington, Diary, Vol. I, p. 50:

     We met in Council at the Long House.

   • 1826, James Finnimore Cooper, Last of Mohicans, Vol. I, Preface, p. vi:

     ... where the ‘long house’, or Great Council Fire, of the nation was universally admitted to be established.

   • 1894 May 1, Sarawak Gazette, p. 67:

     The practice of herding together in ‘long houses’ prevents mental and moral improvement and hinders advance in gardening and planting and agricultural developement generally.

   • 1912, Hose & al., Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. I, Ch. iv:

     The Kenyah village frequently consists of a single long house.

   • 1966, G.E. Evans, Pattern under Plough, Ch. v, p. 72:

     The Welsh long-houses... with long sides and opposite doors providing a passage from side to side, and dividing the building roughly in two.

   • 1971 July 15, Lady, p. 88:

     The longhouse is an object lesson in community living.

2. (obsolete, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used for urination and defecation.
   • 1622, J. Mabbe translating M. Alemán's Rogue, Ch. ii, p. 355:

     To make wads and wisps for those that go to the Long-house (you know what I meane).

Synonyms

• (outhouse): See Wikisaurus:bathroom

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. "long, adj.¹ and n."