Meaning & use
out houses
Last updated
“out houses” is a form of “outhouse”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounpluralBritish
Plural of outhouse: small buildings in a yard or on a farm used for storage or other jobs, separate from the main house.
Grammar: Plural of a countable noun: several outhouses stood behind the barn.
Patterns
- outhouses behind something
The farm had several old outhouses where tools were kept.
They turned the stone outhouses into holiday cottages.
Chickens roamed between the outhouses and the barn.
nounpluralAmerican
Plural of outhouse: simple outdoor toilets in small huts with no running water.
Grammar: Plural countable noun, mainly used in American English.
The campsite still had two outhouses instead of modern bathrooms.
Many rural families used outhouses until the 1950s.
The wooden outhouses were painted green to match the trees.
Word forms
| singular | outhouse |
|---|
Common combinations
- old outhouses
- The old outhouses were falling apart.
- stone outhouses
- The stone outhouses kept the grain dry.
- convert the outhouses
- They plan to convert the outhouses into studios.
- outhouses and barns
- The farm had outhouses and barns spread across the hill.
Synonyms and how they differ
- outbuildings
- Outbuildings is the neutral general word for any separate building on a property, while outhouses can also mean toilets in American English.
- sheds
- Sheds are small simple storage buildings, usually lighter than a stone outhouse.
- privies
- Privies are old-fashioned outdoor toilets only, so they are narrower than outhouses.
- annexes
- Annexes are extra buildings joined to a main one, unlike outhouses which stand apart.
Word family
- outhouse noun
- one such small building
- outbuilding noun
- any separate building on a property
- house noun
- the main building where people live
- housing noun
- buildings where people live
Commonly confused: out houses or out of house?
out houses vs out of house
This is a different phrase, as in being out of the house, meaning away from home; outhouses is one word for buildings.
Practice
On an old farm in Britain, what would 'outhouses' most likely be?
Choose one answer.
On a British farm, outhouses are separate small buildings used for storage. They are not inside the main house, and tents are not permanent structures.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “out houses”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.