the big house

noun

US slang
: a building where people are kept as punishment for a crime : prison
He spent four years in the big house.

Examples of the big house in a Sentence

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Donovan has been thinking about building a smaller place on her property and having the children move into the big house. — Jennifer Ludden, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026 The private jets, the limos, the high-end restaurants, the big house on the beach. — Michael Douglas, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026 But this wasn’t the big house of some art collector hosting a dinner during the Hamptons high season. — Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 21 Aug. 2026 My wife really wanted to go back to England to the big house, and that was the beginning of her alcoholism. — Devon Ivie, Vulture, 19 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for the big house

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Cite this Entry

“The big house.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20big%20house. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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