boardinghouse

noun

board·​ing·​house ˈbȯr-diŋ-ˌhau̇s How to pronounce boardinghouse (audio)
: a lodging house at which meals are provided

Examples of boardinghouse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The story revolves around aspiring Broadway actresses who live in the Footlights Club, a theatrical boardinghouse in New York. Brett Weiss, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 Jan. 2024 At the center of the narrative, John Schiappa reveals the scarred soul of Nick Laine, proprietor of the on-the-skids boardinghouse. Celia Wren, Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2023 Sure, a couple of on- or offstage ghosts visit this story about the lonely, yearning residents of a Depression-era Minnesota boardinghouse. Celia Wren, Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2023 Fashionable citizens built graceful Victorian hotels, shops and homes along Greene Street, still the only paved road in town, while miners and prostitutes crowded into boardinghouses and bordellos on Blair Street, which ran muddy and rough a block east. Jonathan Weisman Benjamin Rasmussen, New York Times, 30 Nov. 2023 Not unlike any of the other quietly desperate people who’ve washed up under the roof of Elizabeth and her husband, Nick (Stephen Bogardus), in their Duluth boardinghouse in 1934. Thomas Floyd, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2023 The hotel, once a gentlemen's boardinghouse, is a paean to louche classicism, stocked with antiques and eclectic bric-a-brac that could have been scooped up on a European Grand Tour. Betsy Blumenthal, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Nov. 2023 Soon there was hardly room in his moldering Cotswolds mansion for his second wife, Elizabeth, who eventually moved to a boardinghouse in Torquay, an English working-class seaside resort. Franz Lidz, New York Times, 31 Oct. 2023 But amid the Depression, his father had trouble finding a good job in the automotive trades, and his mother opened a boardinghouse to help meet expenses. Richard Goldstein, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'boardinghouse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1680, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of boardinghouse was in 1680

Dictionary Entries Near boardinghouse

Cite this Entry

“Boardinghouse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boardinghouse. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

boardinghouse

noun
board·​ing·​house ˈbōrd-iŋ-ˌhau̇s How to pronounce boardinghouse (audio)
ˈbȯrd-
: a house at which persons are boarded

More from Merriam-Webster on boardinghouse

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