Word.ws English Dictionary

it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

it takes a heap of living to make a house a home proverb: a house is simply a physical structure and does not count as a home until significant events in the inhabitants' lives have occurred there over a substantial period of time, and they have developed an emotional bond to the house and its immediate environs.

Proverb

it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

  1. (US) A house is simply a physical structure and does not count as a home until significant events in the inhabitants' lives have occurred there over a substantial period of time, and they have developed an emotional bond to the house and its immediate environs.
    • We often hear the famous lines quoted that it takes a heap of living to make a house a home, but we have to recognize that the family cannot do it without a house in which to start.1973, Government of Canada, House of Commons Debates, Official Report, Volume 3, p. 2476 (Google search result)
    • It may take a heap of living to make a house a home, as the old cross-stitched samplers used to urge, but a commission-collecting realtor cannot deposit a six percent cut of a seller's hearth sentiments in a bank account.1989, Carlton T. Mitchell, Values in Teaching and Professional Ethics, →ISBN, page 123

Synonyms of it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

Forms of it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

alternative formit takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home

Origin of it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

From the poem A Heap o' Livin' (1916) by Edgar A. Guest.

Questions about it takes a heap of living to make a house a home

What does it takes a heap of living to make a house a home mean?
It takes a heap of living to make a house a home means a house is simply a physical structure and does not count as a home until significant events in the inhabitants' lives have occurred there over a substantial period of time, and they have developed an emotional bond to the house and its immediate environs.
What part of speech is it takes a heap of living to make a house a home?
It takes a heap of living to make a house a home is a proverb.

Words near it takes a heap of living to make a house a home in the dictionary

  1. it never rains but it pours
  2. it never rains but that it pours
  3. it pays to advertise
  4. it self
  5. it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home
  6. it takes a heap of living to make a house a home
  7. it takes a lot of living to make a house a home
  8. it takes a village
  9. it takes a village to raise a child
  10. it takes all kinds
  11. it takes all kinds to make a world

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: it takes a heap of living to make a house a home (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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