halfway housen.
/ˌhɑːfweɪ ˈhaʊs/, U.S. /ˈhæfˌweɪ ˌhaʊs/ 1.
a. A house (often an inn) situated midway between two towns or stages of a journey, and therefore often used as a convenient stopping place (now chiefly historical). More generally: a halfway point or stopping place in a journey.
ΘΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > accommodation or lodging > [noun] > lodging-place > temporary > for travellers, pilgrims, etc.
schooleOE
hospitalc1300
khanc1400
xenodochy?c1550
posting inn1556
vent1577
caravanserai1585
yam1587
serai1609
venta1610
post-house1611
xenodochium1612
imaret1613
seraglio1617
rancho1648
hospitium1650
watering-house1664
choultry1698
accommodation house1787
stage-house1788
spital1794
stand1805
resthouse1807
hospice1818
resting1879
stopping house1883
truck stop1961
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > accommodation or lodging > [noun] > lodging-place > temporary > for travellers, pilgrims, etc. > resting-place on journey
baiting1477
baiting-placec1530
stage1603
post-stage1642
station1722
post station1749
station house1815
stopping-place1827
stage-stand1856
refreshment stop1880
pull-up1899
1648 Princes First Fruits 1 The two houses, which we call the Half-way houses, between Sandwich and Sandown.
1694 W. Burnaby tr. Petronius Satyr (new ed.) 21 We could not reach Lycurgus's that Night, and therefore he brought us to a half-way House.
1759 Pennsylvania Gaz. 21 June 4/2 Patrick Sleaven..37 years of age, old looking, lived nigh the half way house, Chester county.
1793 J. Hatsell Let. 4 Aug. in Ld. Auckland Jrnl. & Corr. (1861) II. 515 Yours will be an excellent half-way house, almost as good as the inn at Bromley.
1836 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. V. xlii. 653 The Cape of Good Hope had become a halfway house to their vast dominions in Bengal.
1901 S. E. White Westerners xix. 164 Copper Creek had begun as a half-way house, and had ended as a camp.
1973 Canad. Antiques Collector Jan. 26/2 The buildings known as half-way houses..were the inns stationed halfway between the larger centres to accommodate weary travellers.
2012 A. Troolin & E. J. Foster Kanabec County v. 52 The Dennewith store..was joined by..a ‘halfway house’ for travelers.
b. Something which is intermediate in nature or function between two other things (typically with the implication that this is a positive or useful feature); spec. a compromise between two different or opposing views or courses of action.Chiefly in British English and regional varieties closely related to it (e.g. Irish English, Australian English).
Π
1843 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 498 Undoubtedly Protestantism is, in sober earnest, what he calls it in silly irony—a ‘halfway house’. It is a halfway house between Popery and Deism—between superstition and infidelity.
1901 Times 2 May 4/5 For ten years we have emphasised the fact..that there is no half-way house between market price and conscription.
1957 Financial Times 25 Nov. 10/5 Three cylinders should provide an acceptable halfway house for the smaller cars.
1994 M. Brinkley Housebuilder's Bible (ed. 5) x. 153/3 Satin finishes are a half-way house between matt and silk.
2014 MailOnline (Nexis) 21 Jan. The matter went unresolved, with officials left to go away and try to come up with a halfway house that keeps everyone happy.
2. A residential centre for helping former psychiatric patients, drug addicts, prisoners, or others leaving a prolonged period of institutional confinement to adjust to life in general society. Cf. halfway adj. 2.
ΘΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > residential unit for rehabilitation
therapeutic community1964
the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > place for treatment of alcoholics or drug addicts
detox1975
1923 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 11 Aug. 231/2 If the strain of life in the community was too great for the defective there must be some means of recalling him into a hostel or half-way house.
1961 Public Health Rep. (U.S. Public Health Service) 76 158 In addition to day care for local retarded children, these half-way houses would provide residential care for patients who might benefit from being near their families.
1993 Globe & Mail Rep. on Business Apr. 52/2 It has been 10 days since his release from the Pen, and..he is now a resident in a halfway house.
2014 New Yorker 22 Sept. 42/1 The standard approach was to try to make homeless people ‘housing ready’: first you got people into shelters or halfway houses and put them into treatment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
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n.1648