houses of ill repute
Places selling intimacy
Houses of ill repute are brothels—establishments where prostitution takes place.
The phrase is deliberately euphemistic and old-fashioned, with *ill repute* meaning bad reputation.
It appears most often in historical contexts or when a speaker wants to sound prim: The mayor vowed to shut down the houses of ill repute along the waterfront.
- brothelCommercial sex establishment
- bordelloCommercial sex establishment
- cathouseSlang for brothel
- vice lawsStatutes prohibiting immoral conduct
- massage parlorCommercial therapeutic touch venue
red-light district · Victorian morality · moral panic · reform movements · white slavery · den of iniquity · oldest profession · working girls · ladies of the night · escort agency · public scandal · social stigma · gilded cage · love nest · prohibition era · speakeasy · casino · streetwalker
- vice lawssodomy laws, obscenity laws, blue laws, adultery laws, indecency laws
houses of ill reputepillars of the community
Respected, influential local figures
houses of ill reputehouses of worship
Religious gathering places
churches · temples · monasteries · convents · chapels
house, housed, housing, housekeeper, housekeeping, household, housewife, illness, repute