Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A neighborhood containing many brothels and often other businesses related to sexual gratification, such as sex shops and peepshows.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- Colloq. or Cant A district or neighborhood in which houses of prostitution are located; -- so called in allusion to the red light kept in front of many such resorts at night.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An area of a town where
prostitution is concentrated.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a district with many brothels
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Perhaps from the red lanterns or lights said to have been placed in the windows of American brothels in the 1800s.]
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Examples
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