ˈmansion-house
† a. A dwelling-house, a house in which a person resides. Obs.
| 1533 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 5 Any suche evill disposed persone..attempting..burgularly to breke Mansion houses. 1563 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 164 Every mansion howse of this Cyty that..shalbe visited this Sommer season with the plage. 1577 Harrison England ii. xii. (1877) i. 237 The mansion houses of our countrie townes..are builded in such sort generallie, as that they haue neither dairie, stable, nor bruehouse annexed vnto them vnder the same roofe. 1638 in T. Lechford Note-Bk. (1885) 54 All that parte of one new mansion house in Boston..wch lyes to the south end. 1672 Cowell's Interpr. s.v. House, Those that dig for Salt-peter, shall not dig in the Mansion-house of any Subject without his assent. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 264 ¶2 He took his present Lodging in St. John Street, at the Mansion-House of a Taylor's Widow. 1718 in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield, Mass. (1895) I. 499 We propose that they..shall..Build each man a Mansion house upon their house lots. 1755 in F. Chase Hist. Dartmouth Coll. (1891) I. 11 A certain lott of Land..with a Mantion House thereon. |
| fig. 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 75 b, This place was the Mansion-house of Voluptuousnes. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 69 A City of refuge, the mansion house of liberty. |
b. The house of the lord of a manor, the chief residence of a landed proprietor; hence (now only
U.S.), a large house of good appearance.
| 1641 Evelyn Diary (init.), Wotton, the mansion house of my father, left him by my grandfather. 1651 G. W. tr. Cowel's Inst. 149 The Wife also shall have..her lodging in her Husbands cheife Mansion house for 40. dayes. 1679 Public Rec. Colony of Connecticut (1859) III. 42 He shall build upon his sayd accomodations a good sufficient mansion house. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4893/4 The Capital Messuage or Mansion-House, called Newborrough-Hall. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 290 Our good Chilian's mansion-house or palace. 1745 E. Kimber Itinerant Observations Amer. (1878) 37 A Negro Quarter, is a number of Huts or Hovels, built at some distance from the Mansion-House. 1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) III. cxxi. 15 The landed gentry usually possess a share of pride fully proportionate to their estate and mansion house. 1812 Niles' Reg. III. 9/2 The majority then retired to the Mansion house. 1837 W. Jenkins Ohio Gazetteer 162 A large and elegant Mansion house has been erected on the ground with numerous smaller cottages and out buildings. 1844 in C. Cist Cincinnati Misc. (1845) I. 68/1 The mansion house of E. S. Haines..and various single buildings are observable for their fine appearance. 1848 Shand Pract. Crt. Sess. II. 607 Where there is a proper mansion-house on a landed-estate, the eldest heir-portioner is entitled to that mansion-house. 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. v. (1861) 43 In this street were most of the great houses, or ‘mansion-houses’, as it was usual to call them... A New-England ‘mansion-house’ is naturally square, with dormer windows. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy iv. 32 The bunch of trees, under which nestled the mansion-house of Kirkoswald. |
c. An official residence;
† esp. that belonging to the benefice of an ecclesiastic. Now
spec. the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London.
| 1546 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 14 The Mansion house of the saide vicars. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. xxiv. §13 The Executors of Bishops are sued if their Mansion house be suffered to go to decay. 1609 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 335 The Mansion House of the Prebendary which is situate in Rippon. 1738 Knowler Strafforde's Lett. Ded., Repairing of Churches and building Mansion-houses for Ministers. 1766 Entick Hist. Lond. etc. IV. 359 The lord⁓mayor's Mansion-house, a modern edifice begun in 1739 and finished in 1753. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. viii. 331 The Temple of Fear was erected near the mansion-house of the ephors. 1880 Daily News 18 Dec. 4/5 A conference..took place yesterday afternoon in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor presiding. |