mass housen.
/ˈmas ˌhaʊs/, U.S. /ˈmæs ˈˌhaʊs/ Now historical.
A Roman Catholic church or other place of worship. (In the 17–18th centuries chiefly as a Protestant term of contempt.)
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society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > chapel > [noun] > Roman Catholic
mass house1612
mass-closet1656
massing closet1656
deaconry1670
1612 True Acct. Bp. Fernes & Leighlin in Rep. Comm. Public Rec. Irel. (1815) I. 265 This Richard is now beginning to build a masse house in Rosse... Mine humble suit is, that some present course may be taken for the hindering thereof.
1644 in N. Wallington Hist. Notices (1869) II. 205 They build their Mass houses in every street.
1688 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 599 An impertinent Jesuite who in their Masse-house..had disparaged the Scripture.
1722 D. Defoe Relig. Courtship App. iii. 303 I would always have my Servants go to the same Place, to serve God, as I did myself,..whether I went to the Church, or to the Meeting-house; to the Quakers Meeting, or to the Mass-house.
1780 S. Johnson Lett. to Mrs. Thrale 9 June At night the outrages began by the demolition of the mass-house by Lincoln's Inn.
1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. III. lxvii. 54 On the farm are small remains of the missionary church, called by the protestant colonists the mass-house.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 101 Great crowds assembled in Cheapside to attack the new mass house.
1856 J. G. Whittier in National Era 24 Jan. 13/1 Is an English Christian's home A chapel or a mass-house?
1950 W. R. Bird This is Nova Scotia i. 27 In 1754 an English officer reported Shubenacadie as having the finest Mass House in the country.
1974 Amer. Hist. Rev. 79 148/2 He was not a mere denominational pastor, but responsible for all in his parish, whether they went to church, meeting, mass house, infedal readings, or nowhere.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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