House Definition & Meaning

American

British

More Idioms

Related Words

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms house 1 American [hous, houz] / haʊs, haʊz /

noun

plural

houses

1. a building in which people live; residence for human beings.

   Synonyms: abode, domicile

2. a household.

3. (often initial capital letter) a family, including ancestors and descendants.

   the great houses of France; the House of Hapsburg.

4. a building for any purpose.

   a house of worship.

5. a theater, concert hall, or auditorium.

   a vaudeville house.

6. the audience of a theater or the like.

7. a place of shelter for an animal, bird, etc. (usually used in combination).

   a doghouse.

8. the building in which a legislative or official deliberative body meets.

9. House, the body itself, especially of a bicameral legislature.

   the House of Representatives.

10. a quorum of such a body.

11. (often initial capital letter) a commercial establishment; business firm.

    the House of Rothschild; a publishing house.

12. a gambling casino.

13. the management of a commercial establishment or of a gambling casino.

    rules of the house.

14. an advisory or deliberative group, especially in church or college affairs.

15. a college in an English-type university.

16. a residential hall in a college or school; dormitory.

17. the members or residents of any such residential hall.

18. Informal. a brothel; whorehouse.

19. house music.

20. British. a variety of lotto or bingo played with paper and pencil, especially by soldiers as a gambling game.

21. Also called parish. Curling. the area enclosed by a circle 12 or 14 feet (3.7 or 4.2 meters) in diameter at each end of the rink, having the tee in the center.

22. Nautical. any enclosed shelter above the weather deck of a vessel.

    bridge house; deck house.

23. Astrology. one of the 12 divisions of the celestial sphere, numbered counterclockwise from the point of the eastern horizon.

verb (used with object)

housed, housing

1. to put or receive into a house, dwelling, or living quarters.

   More than 200 students were housed in the dormitory.

2. to give shelter to; harbor; lodge.

   to house flood victims in schools.

3. to provide with a place to work, study, or the like.

   This building houses our executive staff.

4. to provide storage space for; be a receptacle for or repository of.

   The library houses 600,000 books.

5. to remove from exposure; put in a safe place.

6. Nautical.

   1. to stow securely.

   2. to lower (an upper mast) and make secure, as alongside the lower mast.

   3. to heave (an anchor) home.

7. Carpentry.

   1. to fit the end or edge of (a board or the like) into a notch, hole, or groove.

   2. to form (a joint) between two pieces of wood by fitting the end or edge of one into a dado of the other.

verb (used without object)

housed, housing

1. to take shelter; dwell.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or noting a house.

2. for or suitable for a house.

   house paint.

3. served by a restaurant as its customary brand.

   the house wine.

4. of or being a product made by or for a specific retailer and often sold under the store's own label.

   You'll save money on the radio if you buy the house brand.

idioms

1. clean house. clean.

2. on the house, as a gift from the management; free.

   Tonight the drinks are on the house.

3. put / set one's house in order,

   1. to settle one's affairs.

   2. to improve one's behavior or correct one's faults.

      It is easy to criticize others, but it would be better to put one's own house in order first.

4. keep house, to maintain a home; manage a household.

5. dress the house,

   1. to fill a theater with many people admitted on free passes; paper the house.

   2. to arrange or space the seating of patrons in such a way as to make an audience appear larger or a theater or nightclub more crowded than it actually is.

6. bring down the house, to call forth vigorous applause from an audience; be highly successful.

   The children's performances brought down the house.

7. like a house on fire / afire, very quickly; with energy or enthusiasm.

   The new product took off like a house on fire.

House 2 American [hous] / haʊs /

noun

1. Edward Mandell Colonel House, 1858–1938, U.S. diplomat.

2. Son Eddie James House, Jr., 1902–88, U.S. blues singer and guitarist.

house 1 British

noun

1. 1. a building used as a home; dwelling

   2. ( as modifier )

      house dog

2. the people present in a house, esp its usual occupants

3. 1. a building used for some specific purpose

   2. ( in combination )

      a schoolhouse

4. (often capital) a family line including ancestors and relatives, esp a noble one

   the House of York

5. 1. a commercial company; firm

      a publishing house

   2. ( as modifier )

      house style

      a house journal

6. an official deliberative or legislative body, such as one chamber of a bicameral legislature

7. a quorum in such a body (esp in the phrase make a house )

8. a dwelling for a religious community

9. astrology any of the 12 divisions of the zodiac See also planet

10. 1. any of several divisions, esp residential, of a large school

    2. ( as modifier )

       house spirit

11. 1. a hotel, restaurant, bar, inn, club, etc, or the management of such an establishment

    2. ( as modifier )

       house rules

    3. ( in combination )

       steakhouse

12. (modifier) (of wine) sold unnamed by a restaurant, at a lower price than wines specified on the wine list

    the house red

13. the audience in a theatre or cinema

14. an informal word for brothel

15. a hall in which an official deliberative or legislative body meets

16. See full house

17. curling the 12-foot target circle around the tee

18. nautical any structure or shelter on the weather deck of a vessel

19. theatre to win great applause

20. an emphatic form of home

21. to be always ready to provide hospitality

22. informal very well, quickly, or intensely

23. (usually of drinks) paid for by the management of the hotel, bar, etc

24. to settle or organize one's affairs

25. very secure

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

1. (tr) to provide with or serve as accommodation

2. to give or receive shelter or lodging

3. (tr) to contain or cover, esp in order to protect

4. (tr) to fit (a piece of wood) into a mortise, joint, etc

5. (tr) nautical

   1. to secure or stow

   2. to secure (a topmast)

   3. to secure and stow (an anchor)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 House 2 British / haʊs /

noun

1. See House of Commons

2. informal the Stock Exchange

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 house More Idioms

More idioms and phrases containing house

• boardinghouse reach
• bring down the house
• clean house
• eat someone out of house and home
• get on (like a house afire)
• keep house
• on the house
• open house
• people who live in glass houses
• put one's house in order
• safe as houses

Related Words

House, dwelling, residence, home are terms applied to a place to live in. Dwelling is now chiefly poetic, or used in legal or technical contexts, as in a lease or in the phrase multiple dwelling. Residence is characteristic of formal usage and often implies size and elegance of structure and surroundings: the private residence of the king. These two terms and house have always had reference to the structure to be lived in. Home has recently taken on this meaning and become practically equivalent to house, the new meaning tending to crowd out the older connotations of family ties and domestic comfort. See also hotel.

Other Word Forms

• houseless adjective
• subhouse noun
• well-housed adjective

Etymology

Origin of house

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun h(o)us, hous(s)e, Old English hūs; cognate with Dutch huis, Low German huus, Old Norse hūs, German Haus, Gothic -hūs (in gudhūs “temple”); the verb is derivative of the noun

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Guthrie was discovered missing after she didn’t show up at a friend’s house to watch a church service.

From Los Angeles Times

More housing developments will be exempt from rules requiring builders in England to improve wildlife habitats, the government said on Tuesday.

From BBC

So why does housing still feel so expensive, and who’s actually benefiting from the price drop?

From MarketWatch

The 84-year-old mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1 after failing to show up at a friend’s house, where they had planned to livestream their church’s service.

From Salon

With that in mind, there’s also potential for AI to negatively impact the U.S. housing market, where recent cracks have been forming.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• apartment
• box
• building
• condo
• condominium
• dwelling
• home
• mansion
• residence
• shack

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.