house

Noun (1)

house (countable and uncountable, plural houses or (dialectal) housen or (chiefly humorous) hice)

1. A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings.
   • This is my house and my family's ancestral home.
   • The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line, which seems to have shown some ingenuity in avoiding them,[…].1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC
   1. (Hong-Kong) An apartment building within a public housing estate.
2. A container; a thing which houses another.
   • The purposes of food are to promote growth, to supply force and heat, and to furnish material to repair the waste which is constantly taking place in the body. Every breath, every thought, every motion, wears out some portion of the delicate and wonderful house in which we live.1892, Ella Eaton Kellogg, “Foods”, in Science in the Kitchen: A Scientific Treatise on Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of...
3. (uncountable) Size and quality of residential accommodations; housing.
   • Those homeowners who bought too much house, or borrowed against inflated values are now going to be liable for their own poor decisions.2007 November 6, “When Will the Slump End?”, in Newsweek
4. A building intended to contain a single household, as opposed to an apartment or condominium or building containing these.
5. The people who live in a house; a household.
   • one that feared God with all his house1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:2
6. A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word).
   • The former carriage house had been made over into a guest house.
   • On arriving at the zoo, we immediately headed for the monkey house.
   1. A place of business; a company or organisation, especially a printing press, a publishing company, or a couturier.
      • A small publishing house would have a contract with an independent fulfillment house.
      • I have a good banker in this city, but I would not wish to draw upon the house until the time when I shall draw for a round sum.1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC
   2. A place of public accommodation or entertainment, especially a public house, an inn, a restaurant, a theatre, or a casino; or the management thereof.
      • One more, sir, then I'll have to stop serving you – rules of the house, I'm afraid.
      • The house always wins.
   3. (historical) A workhouse.
      • To this the pauper replied that he did not want that, and that rather than be sent to the house he would look out for work.1834, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Reports from the Commissioners, volume 29, page 169
7. The audience for a live theatrical or similar performance.
   • After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
   • Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 2, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co....
8. A building where a deliberative assembly meets; whence the assembly itself, particularly a component of a legislature.
   • The petition was so ridiculous that the house rejected it after minimal debate.
9. A dynasty; a family with its ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble one.
   • A curse lay upon the House of Atreus.
10. (figuratively) A place of rest or repose.
    • Like a pestilence, it doth infect / The houses of the brain.1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please...
    • Such hate was his, when his last breath / Renounced the peaceful house of death […].1815, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James...
11. A grouping of schoolchildren for the purposes of competition in sports and other activities.
    • I was a member of Spenser house when I was at school.
12. An animal's shelter or den, or the shell of an animal such as a snail, used for protection.

Verb

IPA/haʊz/

house (third-person singular simple present houses, present participle housing, simple past and past participle housed)

1. (transitive) To keep within a structure or container.
   • The car is housed in the garage.
   • Houſe your choiceſt Carnations, or rather ſet them under a Pent-houſe againſt a South-wall, ſo as a covering being thrown over them to preſerve them in extremity of weather, they may yet enjoy the freer air at all other times.1669, John Evelyn, “Kalendarium Hortense: OrThe Gard’ners Almanac; […] [November.]”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], 3rd...

   Synonyms:

   store

2. (transitive) To admit to residence; to harbor.
   • Palladius wished him [...] to house all the Helots.c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The First Booke] Chapter 1”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New...

   Synonyms:

   accommodate, harbor, harbour, host, put up

3. To take shelter or lodging; to abide; to lodge.
   • You shall not house with me.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • The federation yesterday vowed to occupy Uotsuri, one of the islands, and build a permanent structure to house six members.1996 October 5, Robert Whymant, “Tokyo tries to calm islands row”, in The Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, Overseas News, page 15, column 2
4. (transitive) To dwell within one of the twelve astrological houses.
   • Where Saturn houses.1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
5. (transitive) To contain or cover mechanical parts.

   Synonyms:

   enclose

6. (transitive) To contain one part of an object for the purpose of locating the whole.
   • The joists were housed into the side walls, rather than being hung from them.
7. (obsolete) To drive to a shelter.
   • Euen now we hous'd him in the Abbey heerec. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
8. (obsolete) To deposit and cover, as in the grave.
   • Oh! can your counsel his despair defer , Who now is housed in his sepulchre1636, G[eorge] S[andys], “(please specify the page)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David. And upon the Hymnes Dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments, London: [Andrew Hebb […]], →OCLC
9. To stow in a safe place; to take down and make safe.
   • to house the upper spars
10. (Canada, US, slang, transitive) To eat; especially, to scarf down.
    • All you wanna do is drink a fifth, house a lasagna, and hide in a dumpster until that baby stops crying.2019, Joe Lawson, Shameless (series 10, episode 4, "A Little Gallagher Goes a Long Way")

Noun (2)

IPA/haʊs/

house (uncountable)

1. House music.
   • […] their music is influenced as much by Roxy Music and the Ramones as it is by house and techno pioneers.1998, Colin Larkin, The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music, London: Virgin Books, →ISBN, page 73
   • And while hard, minimal techno has become increasingly influenced by house and Oval-esque "glitch" stylistics, Exos keeps it old school on Strength, infusing his own style with the force of hard techno purists Surgeon and Oliver Ho.2001 March, Philip Sherburne, “Exos, Strength [album review]”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, number 91, Great Neck, N.Y.: College Media, →ISSN, page 66

Proper noun capitalized: House

House (countable and uncountable, plural Houses)

1. (US, abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of House of Representatives.
   • Prop. 50 proponents, including Newsom and Democrats in the state Legislature and in Congress, say the proposition is needed to counteract Texas’ recent redistricting efforts to give the GOP more House seats.2025 October 2, Madison Hart, “Temecula City Council declares opposition to Prop. 50”, in The Press-Enterprise, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2025
2. (abbreviation, ellipsis, Westminsterian parliamentary systems) Ellipsis of House of Commons.
3. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of House of Parliament.
4. More generally, a shortened name for any chamber of a legislature that is named "House of...", especially where the other chamber(s) are not so named, or where there is no other chamber (unicameral).
5. A village in Quay County, New Mexico, United States.
6. An unincorporated community in Pitt County, North Carolina, United States.
7. A topographic surname from Middle English for someone residing in a house (as opposed to a hut) or in a religious house.
   • The incumbent and embattled Henyard lost Tuesday’s Democratic primary to Trustee Jason House by a landslide, with House winning nearly 90% of the vote.2025 February 25, Gabriel Castillo, Jenna Barnes, Ben Bradley, Michael Johnson, Erik Runge, “Defeated in Dolton: Trustee Jason House beats incumbent Mayor Tiffany Henyard by landslide in primary”, in...
8. (dated, Oxford University slang) Christ Church, Oxford.