greenhouse English · revision 39821

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1664, J. Evelyn, Kalendarium Hortense}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈɡɹiːnhaʊs/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈɡɹːnˌ(h)aʊs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed [[af|en|green|house]] in English.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(Johnson 1755) In the gardening sense the first element is the noun ''green'', in its old sense of plants or greenery, while in the pottery sense it is the adjective ''green'', unfired.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A glass building in which plants that need sheltered, regulated conditions are grown: 1664, in John Evelyn's ''Kalendarium Hortense'',^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)^(MWU 2024) the 1660s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) Johnson (1755) defined it as a house where tender plants are sheltered from the weather, quoting the same work of Evelyn.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Early greenhouses sheltered tender plants through the winter;^(Johnson 1755) the modern sense has widened to any structure of glass or translucent plastic in which climate is regulated for plants.^(OED 2026) In the pottery trade the word has named, since 1825, the area where unfired ware dries before going into the kiln.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)^(MWU 2024) In aviation slang of the Second World War it was used for the glass cover of a cockpit (1941).^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Irish slang used it for a public lavatory, as in Joyce's ''Ulysses'' (1922).^(GDoS) The phrase ''greenhouse effect'', the warming of a planet's surface by gases that trap heat, is recorded from 1937,^(Etymonline) and the attributive use ''greenhouse'' meaning "of or caused by the greenhouse effect", as in ''greenhouse gas'', from 1974.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1664 – a glass building for growing plants.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1825 – (ceramics) a drying area for unfired ware.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1922 – (Irish slang) a public lavatory.^(GDoS)

+ * 1937 – ''greenhouse effect''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1941 – (aviation slang) a glass cockpit cover.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1974 – attributive, relating to the greenhouse effect.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A building with [[glass]] or clear [[plastic]] walls and roof, in which plants are grown or protected under controlled conditions; a [[glasshouse]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (aviation, slang) The transparent cover of an aircraft's [[cockpit]].^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (ceramics) A place where unfired pottery is dried before firing.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Relating to or caused by the [[greenhouse effect]]: ''greenhouse emissions''.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[greenhouse effect]]

+ * [[greenhouse gas]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[green]]

+ * [[house]]

+ * [[hothouse]]

+ * [[conservatory]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}