workhouse

Etymology

work + house

noun

1. (Britain, historical) An institution for homeless poor people funded by the local parish, where the able-bodied were required to work.
2. (US) A prison in which the sentence includes manual labour.
3. (archaic) A place of manufacture; a factory.
   He carefully guarded his secret, but it got out, and, when he had his invention almost completed, some men broke open his workhouse and carried it away. It was afterward returned, but his plan had been copied, and from the copy many machines were made. 1895, Will H. Glascock, Stories of Columbia, page 190

verb

1. (Britain, transitive, historical) To place (a person) in the workhouse (institution for the poor).