greenhouses

Noun

greenhouse (plural greenhouses)

1. A building used to grow plants, particularly one with large glass windows or plastic sheeting to trap heat from sunlight even in intemperate seasons or climates.
   • The royal party had dined in the greenhouse, the coup d'œil of which was as striking as it was new. Vast stands of the most costly exotics reached to the glass roof, which was partly covered by a luxuriant vine, or by a small scarlet creeper.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 54–55

   Synonyms:

   conservatory, glasshouse, plant-house

2. (UK, dated, slang) The glass of a plane's cockpit.
   • In the slang of the Royal Air Force man, the cockpit of his plane is the ‘pulpit’ or ‘office’, the glass covering over it the ‘greenhouse’.1941 March 24, Life, page 85
3. (Ireland, slang) A public toilet.
   • All kinds of places are good for ads. That quack doctor for the clap used to be stuck up in all the greenhouses.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 8: Laestrygonians]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 145
4. A structure that shields the operating table to protect against bacteria.
   • Figure 2.6 shows the diagram Charnley published of the airflow in the 'greenhouse'; it can be seen that reasonable downward unidirectional airflow was achieved close to the operating table.2010, William Whyte, Cleanroom Technology
5. A hot state in global climate.

   Synonyms:

   hothouse

   Antonyms:

   icehouse

See all 8 meanings of greenhouse