ˈfire-house
[f. as prec. Cf. ON. eldh{uacu}s.]
a. A house with a fireplace in it, as distinguished from the out-buildings. Obs. exc. dial. Sometimes, † the particular room in which the family fire was.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 184/26 Caminatum, fyrhus. 1530 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 292 Every fyer howse w{supt} in the parishing of Acclome. 1632 in S. O. Addy Hall of Waltheof (1893) 182 note, The Hall or Fierhouse of the now mansion house of the said John Parker. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. (1646) i. 237 Ive (or Ine)..granted to the pope, that every Fire-house within his Kingdome should yearly pay him a peny. 1680 in N. & Q. 3rd Ser. (1866) IX. 452/1 All that ancient Messuage or Firehouse wherein one C.M. now dwelleth. 1878 Cumberld. Gloss., Fire-house, the dwelling—in contradistinction to the outbuildings. |
b. U.S. (Now usu. as one word.) = fire station s.v. fire n. 5.
| 1901 Rep. Fire Dept. N.Y. 1900 6 A number of sites for new fire-houses..have been acquired. 1902 Scribner's Mag. Oct. 452/1 Our American fire-houses compare favorably with those in Europe. 1945 Sat. Rev. 7 July 21/1 Sometimes it's as elevated as the conversation in back of the firehouse in Salem, Ohio. 1961 [see bong]. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. xi. 296 ‘What's it like in the firehouse?’..‘Like an army barracks.’ 1984 New Yorker 18 June 76/2 Firemen in Washington, D.C., were growing it [sc. corn]..in vacant lots next to their firehouses. |