workhouse
noun (British English)(also poorhouse North American English, British English)
(in England and Wales in the past) a building where very poor people were sent to live and given work to do （英国旧时的）济贫院，劳动救济所 CultureConditions in workhouses were very bad and the people living there had to work very hard and obey strict rules. As a result, poor people were frightened of being sent there. Life in the workhouse is described in some of the novels of Charles Dickens.Topics Social issuesc2