dormitory

Etymology

From Middle English dormitory, dormytory, dormytorye, borrowed from Latin dormītōrium (“a sleeping-room”), from dormiō (“to sleep”). Doublet of dorter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔː.mɪ.tɹi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɹ.mɪˌtɔɹ.i/

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɹ.mɪˌtɔɹ.i/, /ˈdɔɹ.mɪ.tɹi/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈdoː.mɪ.tɹi/

Noun

dormitory (plural dormitories)

1. A room containing a number of beds (and often some other furniture and/or utilities) for sleeping, often applied to student and backpacker accommodation of this kind.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 150–151:

     She will be much more likely to meet his wishes after a residence at the castle, than an imprisonment on short commons in her dormitory in Welbeck Street; for in one case she only learnt how much she could endure, in the other she will find how much she can enjoy.

2. A building or part of a building which houses students, soldiers, monks etc. who sleep there and use communal further facilities.
3. A dormitory town.

Further reading

• “dormitory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dormitory”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “dormitory”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.