Definition of "customhouse" [cus•tom•house]

• A governmental building or office where customs are collected and ships are cleared for entering or leaving the country. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "There used to be, and belike is yet, a custom, in all maritime places which have a port, that all merchants who come thither with merchandise, having unloaded it, should carry it all into a warehouse, which is in many places called a customhouse, kept by the commonality or by the lord of the place."
• "From this another conclusion may be draw, namely, that the sorry soldier of Mexico is not altogether amiable and is prone to be nasty and dangerous to the American boys who have crossed the sea to take "peaceable" possession of a customhouse."
• "He was owed a decent retirement, given his exceptional service: the dozen years affixing wool subsidies in the aromatic customhouse earned the court more than most customs officers earned in a lifetime."