English

Alternative forms

• soddy

Noun

soddie ‎(plural soddies)

1. (US, Canada, informal) A house constructed from blocks of sod, once common in the prairies of the United States and Canada.
   • 1988, Glenda Riley, The Female Frontier, page 87,

     The soddie could be a freestanding structure made of slabs of sod cut by a plow, or it could be a dugout partially bored into the side of a hill or into the ground.

   • 1995, Julie Garwood, Prince Charming, page 247,

     I learned how to make a soddie into a home.

   • 2004, Marie Kramer, Grandchildren of the Pioneers, page 56,

     “Living in a soddy!” exclaimed Marie. “I didn't know there was anyone alive today who lived in a soddy. In our part of Nebraska, soddies went out of existence around the beginning of the 1900s.”

     “Oh, we had soddies for a long time after that,” said Robert. “This area was too poor to afford lumber for housing. Quite a few of us lived in soddies when we were kids.”

   • 2010, Brenda K. Marshall, Dakota, Or What's a Heaven For, unnumbered page,

     It is better now that we do not live in the soddie, but to Mor it does not seem better.