Definition of "rookery" [rook•er•y]

• A place where rooks nest or breed. (noun)
• A colony of rooks. (noun)
• The breeding ground of certain other birds or animals, such as penguins and seals. (noun)
• Informal A crowded and dilapidated tenement. (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.

• "Few things are so unmusical as the voices of rooks, yet a home with a rookery is a very peaceful place."
• "The young take to the water early in the autumn and the rookery is deserted about that time, the last to leave being the old birds who stay behind to moult."
• "When Adah learned that Alice and I had actually bought a place at last she fairly wept for joy, and she excitedly produced her creased and worn copy of "The National Architect" and besought us to remodel the old Schmittheimer "rookery" -- that is what she dared to call it -- into a villa!"