pogeys

Noun

pogey (usually uncountable, plural pogeys)

1. (countable, historical, usually) A poorhouse, workhouse, welfare office, charity hostel, etc.
2. (Canada, often, slang, usually) Government financial assistance, particularly employment insurance.
   • There were no jobs for the unemployed, however. And thus many hundreds of thousands went “on the pogey,” although all available evidence indicates that they loathed doing so. To accept relief was an admission of defeat and failure, a humiliating stigma, whether the relief was indirect or direct.1984, Michiel Horn, The Great Depression of the 1930s in Canada (Canadian Historical Booklet no. 39), Canadian Historical Association, p 10