What is "countinghouses"

Usage examples of "countinghouses".

The promenade was almost deserted, most of the inhabitants at siesta or yawning in their countinghouses, or dallying in the Pleasure Houses outside the fence.

High Street was not crowded at this time of the day, midafternoon, most men in their countinghouses, or at siesta, or at the Club.

Avery," said Lender, "it is usual to keep one's gold in an account at one of the countinghouses in the city, and to draw upon the funds with letters of credit.

They clattered through well-kept streets on wide cobblestones, passing shops, inns, countinghouses, temples, vendors’ booths and homes.

Scarfsellers, whores, and match and noodle vendors rubbed elbows with bourgeois ladies out for walks with their companions, clerks hurrying to their countinghouses, crossingsweepers busily clearing horse dung out of the way for a copper, chimney sweeps, pickpockets, constables in red and blue uniforms, and butchers' boys driving their quickfooted ponies and trailed by gangs of yapping pariah dogs.

Scarf‑sellers, whores, and match and noodle vendors rubbed elbows with bourgeois ladies out for walks with their companions, clerks hurrying to their countinghouses, crossing‑sweepers busily clearing horse dung out of the way for a copper, chimney sweeps, pickpockets, consta­bles in red and blue uniforms, and butchers' boys driving their quick­footed ponies and trailed by gangs of yapping pariah dogs.

Without much gov ernment control, banks could be anything from stuffy old countinghouses to fast-and-loose investment cartels, play ing the stocks or commodity markets with the investors' savings.