house

Question

English - Etymology

From Middle English hous, hus, from Old English hūs (“dwelling, shelter, house”), from Proto-Germanic *hūsą (compare West Frisian hûs, Dutch huis, Low German Huus, German Haus, Danish hus), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keus-, from *(s)keu- (“to hide”). More at hose.

English - Pronunciation

(noun):
- enPR: hous, IPA^(key): /haʊs/
(verb):
- enPR: houz, IPA^(key): /haʊz/
Rhymes: -aʊs, -aʊz
Homophone: how's (verb)

English - Noun

HOUSE (_plural_ HOUSES) * (heading) _Human habitation._ * A structure serving as an abode of human beings. [from 9thc.] _This is my HOUSE and my family's ancestral home._ * 1909, Archibald Marshall, _The Squire's Daughter_, chapterIII: 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, […]. * An animal's shelter or den, or the shell of an animal such as a snail, used for protection. [from 10thc.] * A building used by people for something other than a main residence (typically with qualifying word). [from 10thc.] _The former carriage house_ had been made over into a guest HOUSE. * A public house, an inn, or the management of such. [from 10thc.] _the HOUSE of the Rising Sun; One more, sir, then I'll have to stop serving you – rules of the HOUSE, I'm afraid._ * A place of public entertainment, especially (without qualifying word) a theatre; also the audience for a live theatrical or similar performance. [from 10thc.] _After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the HOUSE._ * A brothel. [from 10thc.] * (business) A place of business; a company or organisation. [from 10thc.] * (politics) The building where a deliberative assembly meets; hence, the assembly itself, forming a component of a (national or state) legislature. [from 10thc.] _The petition was so ridiculous that the HOUSE rejected it after minimal debate._ * A printer's or publishing company. [from 16thc.] _A small publishing HOUSE would have a contract with an independent fulfillment HOUSE._ * A place of gambling; a casino. [from 18thc.] * A grouping of schoolchildren for the purposes of competition in sports and other activities. [from 19thc.] _I was a member of Spenser HOUSE when I was at school._ * (heading) _Extended senses._ * (literary) Somewhere something metaphorically resides; a place of rest or repose. [from 9thc.] * 1598, Ben Jonson, _Every Man in His Humour_ Like a pestilence, it doth infect / The HOUSES of the brain. * 1815, Walter Scott, _The Lord of the Isles_ Such hate was his, when his last breath / Renounced the peaceful HOUSE of death […]. * The people who live in the same house; a household. [from 9thc.] * Bible, Acts x.2: one that feared God with all his HOUSE * A dynasty, a familial descendance; a family with its ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble one. [from 10thc.] _The current Queen is from the HOUSE of Windsor._ * (astrology) One of the twelve divisions of an astrological chart. [from 14thc.] * 1971, Keith Thomas, _Religion and the Decline of Magic_, Folio Society 2012, p.313: Since there was a limited number of planets, HOUSES and signs of the zodiac, the astrologers tended to reduce human potentialities to a set of fixed types and to postulate only a limited number of possible variations. * (chess, now rare) A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece. [from 16thc.] * (curling) The four concentric circles where points are scored on the ice. [from 19thc.] * Lotto; bingo. [from 20thc.] * House music. * (uncountable, US) An aggregate of characteristics of a house. * (Discuss(+) this sense) (uncountable) A children's game in which the players pretend to be members of a household.

house (plural houses)