1. A building or office where a merchant or banker conducts business and keeps financial records.
Usage: Plural form of countinghouse; Chiefly historical; refers to business practices from the 17th–19th centuries

Examples

• The merchant's countinghouses were located near the harbor for easy access to shipping records.
• In the 18th century, countinghouses served as the nerve centers of international trade.
• The novel depicts the daily operations of several countinghouses in London's financial district.
• Clerks worked long hours in the countinghouses, recording transactions by hand.
• Many historic countinghouses have been preserved as museums documenting commercial history.