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penthouse - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Anglo-Norman pentiz (“pentice”), from apendiz (“appentice”), ultimately from a suffixed form of Latin appendō (“I append”). Altered by folk etymology to appear to be a compound of house. Doublet of appentice and pentice.

penthouse (plural penthouses)

  1. (now historical) A structure or annexe (especially one with a sloping roof) extending from the side of a building, sometimes as protection from the weather. [from 14th c.]

    • 1826, William Eusebius Andrews, Review of Fox's Book of Martyrs, WE Andrews, pages 386–7:

      At length, recommending himself to God, he let go one end of his cord, and suffered himself to fall down upon an old shed or penthouse, which, with the weight of his body, fell in with great noise.

  2. (by extension, now rare) Something forming a shelter or canopy over something; an awning, shelter, etc. [from 16th c.]

    • 1802, William Paley, Natural Theology, section XIX:

      The proboscis […] is doubled up by means of the joint, and in that position lies secure under a scaly penthouse.

  3. (tennis) Any of the sloping roofs at the side of a real tennis court. [from 17th c.]
    • 2005, Tony Collins (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Traditional British Rural Sports, Routledge, page 262,
      An odd derivative of real tennis lasted until the latter part of the eighteenth century at Rattray in Perthshire. It was played in the churchyard by two pairs of men, and the method for starting the play was to throw the ball onto the church roof, using it like the sloping penthouse of the tennis court.
  4. An apartment or suite found on an upper floor, or floors, of a tall building, especially one that is expensive or luxurious with panoramic views. [from 19th c.]

    • 1995, Mary Ellen Waithe, Contemporary Women Philosophers: 1900-Today, Springer, page 214:

      Night of January 16th is the story of a woman on trial for pushing her wealthy boss-lover from a Manhattan penthouse.

structure or annexe extending from the side of a building

something forming a shelter or canopy

  • Chinese:
    Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
  • Dutch: afdak (nl) n
  • Finnish: suoja (fi)

any of the sloping roofs at the side of a real tennis court

apartment or suite on the top floor of a tall building

penthouse (third-person singular simple present penthouses, present participle penthousing, simple past and past participle penthoused)

  1. (transitive) To provide with a penthouse, shelter by means of a shed sloping from a wall, or anything similar.

Borrowed from English penthouse.

penthouse m (plural penthouses)

  1. penthouse