house Meaning & Definition
What Does House Mean?
House is a noun that means A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings. It can also mean An apartment building within a public housing estate. As a verb, it means To keep within a structure or container. As a verb, it means To admit to residence; to harbor/harbour.
House in Brief
| Part of speech | noun, verb |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /haʊ̯s/ |
| Synonyms | firm, home and menage |
| Plural | houses |
| Verb forms | houses, housing, housed |
House Definition (Noun)
- A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings.
This is my house and my family's ancestral home.
- An apartment building within a public housing estate.
- A container; a thing which houses another.
- Size and quality of residential accommodations; housing.
- A building intended to contain a single household, as opposed to an apartment or condominium or building containing these.
- The people who live in a house; a household.
- A building used for something other than a residence .
The former carriage house had been made over into a guest house.
- 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.
- 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.
- A workhouse.
- The audience for a live theatrical or similar performance.
After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
- 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.
- A dynasty; a family with its ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble one.
A curse lay upon the House of Atreus.
- A place of rest or repose.
- 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.
- An animal's shelter or den, or the shell of an animal such as a snail, used for protection.
- One of the twelve divisions of an astrological chart.
- The fourth Lenormand card.
- A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece.
- The four concentric circles where points are scored on the ice.
- Lotto; bingo.
- A children's game in which the players pretend to be members of a household.
As the babysitter, Emma always acted as the mother whenever the kids demanded to play house.
- A small stand of trees in a swamp.
- A set of cells in a sudoku puzzle which must contain each digit exactly once, such as a row, column, or 3×3 box.
- The end zone.
House as a Verb
- To keep within a structure or container.
The car is housed in the garage.
- To admit to residence; to harbor.
- To take shelter or lodging; to abide; to lodge.
- To dwell within one of the twelve astrological houses.
- To contain or cover mechanical parts.
- 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.
- To drive to a shelter.
- To deposit and cover, as in the grave.
- To stow in a safe place; to take down and make safe.
to house the upper spars
- To eat; especially, to scarf down.
Noun
- House music.
Noun
- A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word).
On arriving at the zoo, we immediately headed for the monkey house.
- A theatre.
After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
- (sudoku) A set of cells in a Sudoku puzzle which must contain each digit exactly once, such as a row, column, or 3×3 box in classic Sudoku.
Verb
- To admit to residence; to harbor/harbour.
- To eat.
Synonyms of House
House in a Sentence
This is my house and my family's ancestral home.
She is a brilliant academic, but completely impractical around the house.
I'll job out the plumbing work on the house.
The former carriage house had been made over into a guest house.
On arriving at the zoo, we immediately headed for the monkey house.
A small publishing house would have a contract with an independent fulfillment house.
One more, sir, then I'll have to stop serving you – rules of the house, I'm afraid.
The house always wins.
After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
The petition was so ridiculous that the house rejected it after minimal debate.
A curse lay upon the House of Atreus.
I was a member of Spenser house when I was at school.
As the babysitter, Emma always acted as the mother whenever the kids demanded to play house.
The car is housed in the garage.
The joists were housed into the side walls, rather than being hung from them.
to house the upper spars
Word Forms & Grammar
house (countable and uncountable, plural houses or (dialectal) housen or (chiefly humorous) hice)
house (third-person singular simple present houses, present participle housing, simple past and past participle housed)
house (uncountable)
Words That Rhyme With House
Origin of House
Origin 1: From Middle English hous, hus, from Old English hūs (“dwelling, shelter, house”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūs, from Proto-Germanic *hūsą (“house”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kews-, from *(s)kewH- (“to cover, hide”). More at hose.
Origin 2: Eclipsed non-native Middle English mees, meson, measoun (“house”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman mes, mies, meis, maisun (“house”). The uncommon plural form housen is from Middle English husen, housen. (The Old English nominative plural was simply hūs.)
Origin 3: From Middle English housen, from Old English hūsian, from Proto-Germanic *hūsōną (“to house, live, dwell”), from the noun (see above). Compare Dutch huizen (“to live, dwell, reside”), German Low German husen (“to live, dwell, reside”), German hausen (“to live, dwell, reside”), Norwegian Nynorsk husa (“to house”), Faroese húsa (“to house”), Icelandic húsa (“to shelter, house”).
Origin 4: Probably from The Warehouse, a nightclub in Chicago, Illinois, USA, where the music became popular around 1985.
Quick Answers About House
Is house a noun or a verb?
House is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as a verb.
What is another word for house?
Close synonyms of house are firm, home and menage. See the full list of house synonyms and antonyms.
What is the plural of house?
The plural of house is houses.
What is the past tense of house?
The past tense of house is housed. The present participle is housing.
More About House On Meaning Stash
House In Our Articles
- Punctuation in Bullet Points: Periods, Colons and Semicolons
- Gray vs Grey: Spelling, Meaning and Exceptions