noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A place of temporary confinement for debtors, kept by a bailiff, where debtors were sponged of all money they had on themselves, before being transferred to debtor's prison. historical

   "she perswaded the Creditors to send Two Bayliffs, who carry'd me to a Spunging-House in a very weak Condition […]"

Example

More examples

"she perswaded the Creditors to send Two Bayliffs, who carry'd me to a Spunging-House in a very weak Condition […]"

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.