dormitory

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdɔː.mɪ.tɹi/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɹ.mɪˌtɔɹ.i/
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɹ.mɪˌtɔɹ.i/, /ˈdɔɹ.mɪ.tɹi/
  • (Australia) 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.
    • 2023 September 5, Julian Borger, Andrew Roth, “Return of US nuclear weapons to UK would be an escalation, says Russia”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 April 2024:
      The foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was responding to a report last week about an item in the 2024 US air force budget for building a dormitory at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk for personnel on a “potential surety mission” – military jargon for nuclear safety and security.
  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.

Synonyms

  • (room for sleeping, or a building with such rooms): dorm (clipping, in wide use), dormitorium (rare), dorter (historical, especially in a monastery)

Coordinate terms

  • (building where soldiers sleep): barracks

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

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