Bible Dictionary
SUMMER-HOUSE
A summer-house was a separate residence or room used during the hot season. Wealthy people and kings could have both winter and summer quarters as signs of comfort and luxury.
Definition
A summer-house was a residence or room used during the hot season. It belonged to the luxury of kings and wealthy people who maintained separate quarters for winter and summer.
Biblical Usage
The summer-house appears in a prophetic judgment against Israel, where Yahweh would strike both the winter-house and the summer-house.
Historical Background
The comparable “cool upper room” associated with Eglon was not a separate building in the same sense.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(beth ha-qayits): Am 3:15 notes it as part of the judgment on Israel that Yahweh would smite "the winter-house with the summer-house." It belonged to the luxury of the period that kings and wealthy persons had separate residences for the cold and hot seasons. This is the only mention of "the summer-house," but Eglon's "cool upper room" (Jud 3:20, the King James Version and the English Revised Version "summer parlour," not in this case a separate building) may be compared.</p><p>See WINTER-HOUSE.</p>