outhouse

See also: out-house

English

An outhouse marked WC

Alternative forms

• out-house (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English outhous, equivalent to out- +‎ house. Compare Old Norse úthús (“outhouse”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: out‧house

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

outhouse (plural outhouses)

1. (Canada, US) An outbuilding, typically permanent, containing a toilet or seat over a cesspit.
2. (dated) Any outbuilding: any small structure located apart from a main building.
   • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine‎^[1]:

     There was a considerable outhouse, which he unlocked and we entered.

   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     […] plenty of sand and cement had been found in one of the outhouses

Synonyms

• (outer building used for urination and defecation): See Thesaurus:outhouse
• (any small outer building): See outbuilding

Hypernyms

• house

Derived terms

• built like a brick outhouse

Translations

outdoor toilet — see also shithouse,‎ latrine,‎ toilet

• Bulgarian: външен клозет m (vǎnšen klozet)
• Chickasaw: aboowoshi'
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屋外廁所／屋外厕所 (wūwài cè suǒ), 流動廁所／流动厕所 (liúdòng cè suǒ)

• Czech: kadibudka (cs) f
• Danish: das (da)
• Finnish: ulkokäymälä (fi); ulkovessa, ulkohuussi, huussi (fi), huusi (fi), puucee (fi) (informal); pikkula (fi), pihan perä (euphemistic)
• German: Plumpsklo (de) n, Außenklo n (colloquial); Außentoilette (de) f, Häuschen (de) n (informal)
• Greek: απόπατος (el) m (apópatos)
• Hungarian: budi (hu), pottyantós
• Icelandic: náðhús n
• Ingrian: kuja
• Italian: gabinetto esterno, latrina (it) f, cesso alla turca m
• Japanese: 屋外トイレ (okugai toire)
• Macedonian: у́личен тоале́т m (úličen toalét)
• Middle English: gong
• Navajo: chąąʼ báhooghan
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utedass (no) m, utedo m or n, (general) uthus n

  Nynorsk: utedass m, (general) uthus n

• Plautdietsch: Bekjhus n, Hieskje n, Zekjreet n, Kloo m
• Polish: wychodek (pl) m, wygódka (pl) f, sławojka (pl) f, latryna (pl) f
• Portuguese: casinha (pt) f
• Russian: уличный туале́т m (uličnyj tualét), туале́т вне до́ма m (tualét vne dóma), сорти́р (ru) m (sortír)
• Serbo-Croatian: poljski zahod m, poljski klozet m
• Swedish: utedass (sv) n (colloquial, but commonly used), avträde (sv) n
• Tok Pisin: liklik haus
• Vietnamese: nhà vệ sinh, cầu tiêu (vi)
• Walloon: tchiyote (wa) f
• Yup'ik: anarvik, yuqerrvik

outbuilding — see outbuilding

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: Abort (de) m, Klo (de) n
• Maori: torohē, turuma
• Portuguese: banheiro (pt) m
• Russian: убо́рная (ru) f (ubórnaja), отхо́жее ме́сто (ru) n (otxóžeje mésto)
• Swedish: dass (sv) n

Verb

outhouse (third-person singular simple present outhouses, present participle outhousing, simple past and past participle outhoused)

1. (transitive) To house in a separate building.
   • 1969, Great Britain. National Libraries Committee, Frederick Sydney Dainton, Report of the National Libraries Committee (page 85)

     In our discussion of outhousing we have tried to take into account the inconvenience to users as well as the potential savings in costs.

   • 1975, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Sessional Papers, volume 28, page 38:

     The Information Department is outhoused but there are operational reasons for this and it would, in any case, be physically impossible to house the staff of the Department in the main building.