(ˈ)mā|näzh, -nȧzh noun
( -s )
Etymology: French ménage, from Old French mesnage dwelling house, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin mansionaticum, from Latin mansion-, mansio habitation, dwelling — more at mansion
1.
a. : a domestic establishment : household
a respectable ménage — F.A.Swinnerton
an unstable ménage — Harry Levin
add one or two concubines to his ménage — John Blofeld
b. : a place in which a person keeps house or that is managed like a household : quarters
lunch with the young men at their mess — as all communal ménages appear to be called in the East — Evelyn Waugh
apartment, an eight-room ménage on the fourteenth floor — E.J.Kahn
very formal, and very well kept, whereas I had expected find myself in an entirely Bohemian ménage — George Copeland
c. : domestic management : housekeeping
accommodates our democratic ménage to the taste of the richest and most extravagant plebeian among us — W.D.Howells
2.
a. : a savings club organized in some Scottish and English communities so that each member pays in a set sum each week and the total sum is paid to a different member each week
b. dialect Britain : the selling of goods (as cloth) on installments often by an itinerant vendor