ˈspinning-house
[spinning vbl. n.]
1. A room or building set apart for the purpose of spinning.
| 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 20 Y⊇ dore y{supt} is out of y⊇ parlour into y⊇ spynnyng hous. Ibid., The drawt chambyr above y⊇ spynnyng hous. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Italy III. 113 The most remarkable thing..is its spinning-house for a manufacture of silk. 1772 Hartford Merc. Suppl. 18 Sept. 4/3 A Dressing Shop, a long spinning and Weaving House. |
2. (See quots. and cf. spin-house.)
| 1803 Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 126 Spinning House, an ergastulum; a house of labour and correction; a prison for prostitutes under the jurisdiction of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors. 1840 Life J. Howard in Chivalry & Charity 150 A spinning house, or Bridewell for women, at Amsterdam. 1874 Slang Dict. 304 Spinning-house, the place in Cambridge where street-walkers are locked up, if found out after a certain time at night. 1897 T. D. Atkinson Cambridge 94 In 1790..the Gaol was removed to a new building at the back of the Spinning House. |