greenhouses

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of greenhouse.

   The growers heat their greenhouses through the coldest months to protect the crops.

   Modern greenhouses use automated vents and shades to regulate temperature.

   Note

   The spelling does double duty: the same word is also the verb's present-tense form, as when a grower greenhouses seedlings. As a plural noun it covers every sense of greenhouse: glass buildings for plants, shields over an operating table, hot phases of global climate, and, in dated British slang, the glazing of a plane's cockpit. The compound takes its plural regularly on the final element: one greenhouse, two greenhouses.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of greenhouse.

   The grower greenhouses his seedlings until the last frost has passed.

   Each winter the estate greenhouses its citrus trees to keep them from freezing.

   Note

   A verb made straight from the noun, and always transitive: someone greenhouses seedlings, citrus trees or other tender stock, so an object must follow. Beyond the literal act of moving plants under glass, it also works figuratively for nurturing anything in order to help it grow, keeping it sheltered and warm until it is ready to stand on its own.

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