Definition of "greenhouse" []

• A structure, primarily of glass, in which temperature and humidity can be controlled for the cultivation or protection of plants. (noun)
• Slang A clear plastic bubble or shell covering part of an aircraft. (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.

• "Anyway, the Harvard Square ABP has a glassed-in greenhouse where you can sit and drink your warming beverage while looking out at the university -- and in the way of things, that greenhouse is inhabited by a couple of smart, fat sparrows who are much snugger (and smugger) than the sparrows still stuck outside."
• "Its really unfortunate that we have to use the term greenhouse when refering to what happens in the atmosphere because it does not relate well or at all to what happens in a ral greenhouse."
• "Following an extensive theoretical analysis, two German physicists have determined (pdf) that the term greenhouse gas is a misnomer and that the greenhouse effect appears to violate basic laws of physics."