- sponging-house
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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 debtors prison.
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sponging-house
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Sponging house — Sponging Spon ging ( j[i^]ng), a. & n. from {Sponge}, v. [1913 Webster] {Sponging house} (Eng. Law), a bailiff s or other house in which debtors are put before being taken to jail, or until they compromise with their creditors. At these houses… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Sponging-house — A sponging house was a one time place of temporary confinement for debtors in the United Kingdom. If someone were to get into debt, their creditor would lay a complaint with the sheriff, the sheriff sent his bailiffs, and the debtor would be… … Wikipedia
sponging house — noun Etymology: sponging (gerund of sponge) (II) + house; from the extortionate charges made there for food and lodging : a house usually maintained by a bailiff for keeping debtors for a day to afford opportunity to come to terms with their… … Useful english dictionary
sponging-house — sponˈging house or spunˈging house noun (obsolete) A bailiff s lodging house for debtors in his custody before their committal to prison • • • Main Entry: ↑sponge … Useful english dictionary
sponging-house — A house where persons arrested for debt were kept for a day in order that their friends might have opportunity to keep them from going to prison by paying their debts … Ballentine's law dictionary
sponging house — jail for debtors, debtors prison … English contemporary dictionary
Sponging — Spon ging ( j[i^]ng), a. & n. from {Sponge}, v. [1913 Webster] {Sponging house} (Eng. Law), a bailiff s or other house in which debtors are put before being taken to jail, or until they compromise with their creditors. At these houses… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
spunging-house — noun sponging house … Wiktionary
Bleak House — For other uses, see Bleak House (disambiguation). Bleak House … Wikipedia
Marshalsea — The prison occupied two locations, the first c. 1329–1811, and the second 1811–1842. The image above is of the first Marshalsea in the 18th century … Wikipedia
