house
house
(hous) noun
Abbr. ho.
1.
a. A structure serving as a dwelling for one or more persons, especially for a family. b. A household or family.
2. Something, such as a burrow or shell, that serves as a shelter or habitation for a wild animal.
3. A dwelling for a group of people, such as students or members of a religious community, who live together as a unit: a sorority house.
4. A building that functions as the primary shelter or location of something: a carriage house; the lion house at the zoo.
5. a. A facility, such as a theater or restaurant, that provides entertainment or food for the public: a movie house; the specialty of the house. b. The audience or patrons of such an establishment: a full house.
6. a. A commercial firm: a brokerage house. b. A publishing company: a house that specializes in cookbooks. c. A gambling casino. d. Slang. A house of prostitution.
7. A residential college within a university.
8. a. Often House A legislative or deliberative assembly. b. The hall or chamber in which such an assembly meets. c. A quorum of such an assembly.
9. Often House A family line including ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble family: the House of Orange.
10. a. One of the 12 parts into which the heavens are divided in astrology. b. The sign of the zodiac indicating the seat or station of a planet in the heavens. In this sense, also called mansion.
noun
, attributive.
Often used to modify another noun: the house wine; house paint.
verb
housed, housing, houses (houz)
verb
, transitive
1.
To provide living quarters for; lodge: The cottage housed ten students.
2.
To shelter, keep, or store in or as if in a house: a library housing rare books.
3.
To contain; harbor.
4.
To fit into a socket or mortise.
5.
Nautical. To secure or stow safely.
verb
, intransitive
1.
To reside; dwell.
2.
To take shelter.
idiom.
like a house on fire or like a house afire Informal
In an extremely speedy manner: ran away like a house on fire; tickets that sold like a house afire.
on the house
At the expense of the establishment; free: food and drinks on the house.
put or set) (one's) house in order
To organize one's affairs in a sensible, logical way.
[Middle English, from Old English hūs.]