bookhouse

From book +‎ house, probably as a calque of Old English bōchūs (“library, bookhouse”), whence Middle English bochous (“library”), which had eventually fallen into disuse.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʊkˌhaʊs/

bookhouse (plural bookhouses)

1. A repository for books; a library; a store of books.

   Hyponyms: library, bookstore

   • 1886 [1613 October 28], John Edward Price, Guildhall of the City of London: History and Associations. Compiled from Original Documents, with Fac-Simile Charters, and Other Illustrations‎^[1], London: Blades, East & Blades, page 173:

     It is ordered by this Court that Mr. Chamblen shall pay and disburse unto Sir John Jolles Knight and Alderman the [sum] of [£200], to be by them expended towards the preparing of free stone for the and beautifiing of A new Councell Chamber and bookhouse.

   • 1985 September 15, Charles Jencks, Towards a Symbolic Architecture, New York: Rizzoli, →ISBN, page 177:

     The overall mode of the bookhouses is the same as for the rest of the house: a Free-Style Classicism based on wood construction.

   • 2016 July 12, Charlie Jane Anders et al., “I FELT LIKE I HAD ALWAYS BEEN WRONG HEADED” (chapter 2), in Jonathan Strahan, editor, Drowned Worlds, United Kingdom: Solaris, →ISBN, page 137; reprinted in Gardner Dozois, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection (anthology), St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2017 July 11, →ISBN, page 653:

     There were bookhouses, along with stinktanks where you could drink up and listen to awful poetry about extinct animals.

   • 2024 May 9 [1520–1546], Martin Luther, translated by Shaun Maley, Luther & the State: Writings on Secularism, Minerva Heritage Press, page 131:

     Finally, all those who love and desire that such schools and languages be established and maintained in the German lands should consider that no effort and expense be spared to provide good libraries or bookhouses, especially in the large cities that are well able to do so.

   • 2024 September 21, Dorothy Winsor, “Chapter 15”, in Dragoncraft, United Kingdom: Inspired Quill, →ISBN, page 86:

     Didn't the bookhouse used to have more texts about dragons than this? […] Along with shelves of records and supplies, the room had turned out to have a shelf full of manuscripts and books about dragons. […] "Those manuscripts are worth a drake's ransom, you little fool! This room should be locked. Your father wants them kept safe. If he heard about this, I have no idea what he'd do to you, and that's before he forbade you to ever set foot in the bookhouse again." It was one of the few times he'd seen the Sage angry. That and the threat of banishment from the bookhouse had kept him out. Until now.