The Collaborative International Dictionary
Customhouse \Cus"tom*house"\ (-hous`), n. The building where customs and duties are paid, and where vessels are entered or cleared.
Customhouse broker, an agent who acts for merchants in the business of entering and clearing goods and vessels.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of custom house English)
WordNet
n. a government building where customs are collected and where ships are cleared to enter or leave the country [syn: customshouse]
Usage examples of "customhouse".
Pavek was on morning duty in the vast customhouse, transferring hock-sized sacks of salt from one barrel to another, ticking off groups of five on a wax tablet as he went.
Breath was a city commodity, stored in the customhouse and sold to the licensed apothecaries who resold it in their shops.
The customhouse was larger than the palace, though few guessed its true dimensions because it had been carved into the limestone beneath the streets rather than rising above them.
The customhouse entry-hall echoed with the resonant sound of the seal impressing the wax.
Here in the customhouse catacombs, it was going to raise a lot of eyebrows come daylight.
There was history between him and her: history back to their shared childhood days in the orphanage, when the customhouse had been their playground.
Pavek believed the druids would refuse to trade at the customhouse once they knew about Rokka, Escrissar, and the halfling.
Of those, the customhouse, with its myriad maze of storerooms, might be a last-chance refuge-a very last chance.
This raised a storm: the planters, the customhouse, and the governor, were all against him.
They advanced towards a boat, which a customhouse officer held by a chain, near the quay.
Besides, you must have something on the panels of your carriage, to escape being searched by the customhouse officers.
We had thus, at Aigues-Mortes, Martigues, or Bouc, a dozen places where we left our goods, and where, in case of necessity, we concealed ourselves from the gendarmes and customhouse officers.
I had a double motive for fearing the gendarmes and customhouse officers, as my appearance before the judges would cause an inquiry, and an inquiry always looks back into the past.
The most perfect tranquility was restored, and the vigilance of the customhouse officers was redoubled, and their strictness was increased at this time, in consequence of the fair at Beaucaire.
My intention was, if Caderousse was alone, to acquaint him with my presence, finish the meal the customhouse officers had interrupted, and profit by the threatened storm to return to the Rhone, and ascertain the state of our vessel and its crew.