flophouse
pronunciation
How to pronounce flophouse in British English:
UK [ˈflɒphaʊs]
How to pronounce flophouse in American English:
US [ˈflɑphaʊs]
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- Noun:
- a cheap lodging house
Word Origin
- flophouse (n.)
- "cheap hotel," hobo slang, 1904, probably related to slang flop (v.) "lie down for sleep" (1907); see flop (v.) + house (n.). The explanation below is not found in other early references. In one of [Cincinnati's] slum districts stands the Silver Moon, a "flop house" (i.e., a house where the occupants are "flopped" out of their hanging bunks by letting down the ropes) .... ["McClure's" magazine, November 1904]
Example
- 1. At least one flophouse survives on the bowery .
- 2. He is now unemployed , and lives in a flophouse in atlanta between a jail and a strip club .
- 3. Given a choice between a $ 400-a-night hotel and an $ 18-a-night flophouse in hong kong , I tend to opt for the latter .