booby house
An older derogatory slang term for a psychiatric hospital or mental asylum, synonymous with 'booby-hatch'.
Definitions
An older derogatory slang term for a psychiatric hospital or mental asylum, synonymous with 'booby-hatch'. The term reflects the stigmatising language historically used around mental health treatment, framing institutions as places where foolish or 'booby' people were locked away. While the phrase is dated, it still surfaces in vintage writing, old films, and occasionally in retro-flavoured humour, and understanding it requires acknowledging its place in the history of ableist slang.
In old crime novels, threatening to send someone to the booby house was the go-to way to dismiss anyone who seemed too excitable.
Comments
(slang, derogatory) booby-hatch; lunatic asylum.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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A dated American slang term for a brothel, specifically one of the lower-end variety where sex workers rented individual small rooms or 'cribs' by the hour or night. The word evokes the cramped, utilitarian nature of such establishments at the turn of the 20th century and appears frequently in historical accounts of red-light districts in cities like New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago. It's largely a historical term now, more likely to appear in period fiction than modern conversation.
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(US, slang) A hospital, especially a lunatic asylum.
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