Rookery

noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A colony of breeding birds or other animals.

    "It was a rookery which had never been raided by the hunters, and in consequence the seals were mild-tempered and at the same time unafraid."

  2. 2
    a breeding ground for gregarious birds (such as rooks) wordnet
  3. 3
    A crowded tenement. broadly

    "Lord John Roxton and I turned down Vigo Street together and through the dingy portals of the famous aristocratic rookery."

  4. 4
    A place where criminals congregate, often an area of a town or city. British, broadly, historical

    "The Flower and Dean St rookery had been home to many of those who lived at least partly by street crime."

  5. 5
    That part of the barracks occupied by subalterns. obsolete, slang

Etymology

From rook + -ery, 1725.

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