Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word shotgun house. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word shotgun house, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say shotgun house in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word shotgun house you have here. The definition of the word shotgun house will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofshotgun house, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
New Orleans architectural historian Samuel Wilson, Jr. has suggested that the term alludes to the idea that if all the doors are opened, a shotgun blast fired into the house from the front doorway will fly cleanly to the other end and out at the back.
Folklorist John Michael Vlach has suggested a corruption of a Dahomey Fon area term "to-gun", meaning "place of assembly", brought to New Orleans by Afro-Haitian slaves.