Meaning & use
opium house
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableold-fashioned
a place where people gathered to smoke opium, common in the 19th and early 20th centuries
Grammar: Countable: one opium house, two opium houses.
Patterns
- smoke in an opium house
- an opium house in Chinatown
The old photographs show men lying on mats inside an opium house.
He wrote about the opium houses that once lined the waterfront.
Word forms
| plural | opium houses |
|---|
Common combinations
- opium house owner
- The opium house owner was fined by the authorities.
- run an opium house
- He was arrested for running an opium house.
- visit an opium house
- Tourists sometimes visited an opium house out of curiosity.
- the heyday of opium houses
- The 1880s were the heyday of opium houses in that city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- opium den
- The more common term today; 'opium den' often suggests a secret or illegal place, while 'opium house' is more neutral and historical.
Word family
- opium noun
- The drug obtained from poppies.
Commonly confused: opium house or opium den?
opium house vs opium den
'Opium den' is the usual modern phrase; 'opium house' is less common and sounds more old-fashioned or historical.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'opium house' correctly?
Choose one answer.
An opium house is a historical place where people smoked opium, so a museum display about a 19th-century one fits. The other options describe ordinary modern houses or places for vegetables or children, which do not match the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “opium house”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.