house

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.

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.)

• hoose (Northumbria)
• houss (obsolete)

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /haʊ̯s/, [haʊ̯s]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /haws/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (Southern US, Midland US, Mid-Atlantic US, New York City, Australia, New Zealand, /aʊ̯/-fronting) IPA^(key): /hæʊ̯s/, [hæʊ̯s]
• (Canada, Canadian raising)
  • IPA^(key): /hɐʊ̯s/, [hɐʊ̯s]; /hɜʊ̯s/; [hɜʊ̯s]; /hʌʊ̯s/, [hʌʊ̯s]; /həʊ̯s/, [həʊ̯s]

    • Audio (Canada):

      (file)

• (Pittsburgh, General South African, /aʊ̯/-monophthongization) IPA^(key): /haːs/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /hʌʉ̯s/, [hʌʉ̯s]
• (Ireland)
  • (Standard Irish, Dublin) IPA^(key): /hɛʊ̯s/, [hɛʊ̯s]
  • (Ulster) IPA^(key): /hɐʏ̯s/, [hɐʏ̯s]
  • (Munster, Cork) IPA^(key): /hɐʊ̯s/, [hɐʊ̯s]
• (Geordie) IPA^(key): /huːs/, [huːs]
• Rhymes: -aʊs
• Hyphenation: house

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

2. A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings. [from 9th c.]

   This is my house and my family's ancestral home.

   • 1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC:

     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, […].

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path  […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.

   1. (Hong Kong, only used in names) An apartment building within a public housing estate.
4. A container; a thing which houses another.
   • 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 Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes‎^[1], Revised edition, Michigan: Health Publishing Company, page 25:

     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.

6. (uncountable) Size and quality of residential accommodations; housing.
   • 2007 November 6, “When Will the Slump End?”, in Newsweek:

     Those homeowners who bought too much house, or borrowed against inflated values are now going to be liable for their own poor decisions.

8. A building intended to contain a single household, as opposed to an apartment or condominium or building containing these.

   Coordinate terms: apartment, condo, condominium, flat

10. The people who live in a house; a household. [from 9th c.]
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:2:

      one that feared God with all his house

12. A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word). [from 10th c.]

    The former carriage house had been made over into a guest house.

    On arriving at the zoo, we immediately headed for the monkey house.

    2. A place of business; a company or organisation, especially a printing press, a publishing company, or a couturier. [from 10th c.]

       A small publishing house would have a contract with an independent fulfillment house.

       • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

         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.

    4. A place of public accommodation or entertainment, especially a public house, an inn, a restaurant, a theatre, or a casino; or the management thereof. [from 10th c.]

       One more, sir, then I'll have to stop serving you – rules of the house, I'm afraid.

       The house always wins.

       • 1964, “Northwest Ohio Quarterly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 36, page 185:

         The farce comedy which followed, When We're Married by Charles Burnham, was heartily praised, with the character man singled out for special extollation. The production filled the house.

       • 1977 August 27, Steve Savage, Susan "Suki" Eagan, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Suki, But Were Too Distracted In Chaps to Ask Her”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 8, page 9:

         Frazier and Gary worked for me for free — for six months — they didn't take any money from the house. They worked for tips.

    5. (historical) A workhouse.
       • 1834, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Reports from the Commissioners, volume 29, page 169:

         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.

13. The audience for a live theatrical or similar performance. [from 10th c.]

    After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

    • 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., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

      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.

14. (politics) A building where a deliberative assembly meets; whence the assembly itself, particularly a component of a legislature. [from 10th c.]

    The petition was so ridiculous that the house rejected it after minimal debate.

15. A dynasty; a family with its ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble one. [from 10th c.]

    A curse lay upon the House of Atreus.

16. (figurative) A place of rest or repose. [from 9th c.]
    • 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 specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

      Like a pestilence, it doth infect / The houses of the brain.

    • 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 Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC:

      Such hate was his, when his last breath / Renounced the peaceful house of death  […].

17. A grouping of schoolchildren for the purposes of competition in sports and other activities. [from 19th c.]

    I was a member of Spenser house when I was at school.

18. An animal's shelter or den, or the shell of an animal such as a snail, used for protection. [from 10th c.]
19. (astrology) One of the twelve divisions of an astrological chart. [from 14th c.]
    • 1971, Sir Keith Vivian Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, The Folio Society, published 2012, →ISBN, page 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.

20. (cartomancy) The fourth Lenormand card.
21. (chess, now rare) A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece. [from 16th c.]
22. (curling) The four concentric circles where points are scored on the ice. [from 19th c.]
23. Lotto; bingo. [from 20th c.]
24. (uncountable) 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.

25. (US, dialect) A small stand of trees in a swamp.
26. (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.
27. (American football, slang, with “the”) The end zone.

• (establishment): shop
• (company or organisation): shop

• building
• dwelling, residence

• house on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• house (astrology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• house (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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”).

• enPR: houz, IPA^(key): /haʊz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊs, -aʊz
• Homophone: how's

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.

   • 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 edition, London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, →OCLC, page 29:

     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.

   • 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: The North Eastern's new rail-mounted piling unit”, in Trains Illustrated, page 646:

     Now, covered concrete troughs to house the cables are laid parallel with the railway lines, cheapening maintenance because of improved accessibility for inspection and repair.

   • 2025 July 15, James Osborne, “Could you have survived as a Roman soldier? Here's the surprising truth about life in the ancient army”, in History Extra‎^[2], archived from the original on 15 July 2025:

     Meanwhile, in permanent garrisons, soldiers had access to military hospitals and medical care, with Roman forts housing some of the most advanced medical facilities in the empire.

2. (transitive) To admit to residence; to harbor.
   • 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 Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC, folio 41, recto:

     Palladius wished him [...] to house all the Helots.

3. To take shelter or lodging; to abide; to lodge.
   • 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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     You shall not house with me.

   • 1996 October 5, Robert Whymant, “Tokyo tries to calm islands row”, in The Times‎^[3], →ISSN, →OCLC, Overseas News, page 15, column 2:

     The federation yesterday vowed to occupy Uotsuri, one of the islands, and build a permanent structure to house six members.

4. (transitive, astrology) To dwell within one of the twelve astrological 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:

     Where Saturn houses.

5. (transitive) To contain or cover mechanical parts.
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.
   • c. 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, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Euen now we hous'd him in the Abbey heere

8. (obsolete) To deposit and cover, as in the grave.
   • 1636, 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:

     Oh! can your counsel his despair defer , Who now is housed in his sepulchre

9. (nautical) To stow in a safe place; to take down and make safe.

   to house the upper spars

11. (Canada, US, slang, transitive) To eat; especially, to scarf down.
    • 2019, Joe Lawson, Shameless (series 10, episode 4, "A Little Gallagher Goes a Long Way")

      All you wanna do is drink a fifth, house a lasagna, and hide in a dumpster until that baby stops crying.

• (keep within a structure or container): store
• (admit to residence): accommodate, harbor/harbour, host, put up
• (contain or enclose mechanical parts): enclose

Probably from The Warehouse, a nightclub in Chicago, Illinois, USA, where the music became popular around 1985.

• enPR: hous, IPA^(key): /haʊs/

house (uncountable)

2. (music) House music.
   • 1998, Colin Larkin, The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music, London: Virgin Books, →ISBN, page 73:

     […] their music is influenced as much by Roxy Music and the Ramones as it is by house and techno pioneers.

   • 2001 March, Philip Sherburne, “Exos, Strength [album review]”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, number 91, Great Neck, N.Y.: College Media, →ISSN, page 66:

     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.

   • 2006, Mark Jonathan Butler, Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music, Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 45:

     The first genre of American dance music to become popular in the United Kingdom was Chicago house. Although music from Detroit was soon imported as well, it was often treated as subcategory of house, and for many years the most common English term for electronic dance music in general was "house" or "acid house". […] During the formative years of techno and house, the musicians involved interacted in various ways.

From English house.

house

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) mansion; large house (Classifier: 間／间 c)

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦou̯sɛ]

house n

1. gosling

Unadapted borrowing from English house, originally from a clipped form of house music.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦaʊ̯s]

house m inan

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

   Synonym: house music

• “house”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “house”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “house”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

From English house. Doublet of huis and osso.

• IPA^(key): /ɦɑu̯s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: house
• Rhymes: -ɑu̯s

house m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

   Synonym: housemuziek

• gabberhouse
• smurfenhouse

From English house.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑu̯s/, [ˈhɑ̝u̯s̠]
• Rhymes: -ɑus
• Syllabification^(key): hou‧se
• Hyphenation^(key): hou‧se

house (uncountable)

1. (music) house music, house (a genre of music)

• “house”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[4] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /aws/

house f (uncountable)

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

   Synonym: house music

• houes, houés

Unadapted borrowing from English house.

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɒuz]
• Hyphenation: house^[1]
• Rhymes: -uz

house (usually uncountable, plural house-ok)

1. (music) house music, house (a type of electronic dance music with an uptempo beat and recurring kickdrum)

• house-parti
• house-zene

house

1. alternative form of hous

house

1. alternative form of housen

From English house, house music. Doublet of hus.

house m (indeclinable) (uncountable)

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

• housemusikk

• “house” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From English house. Doublet of hus.

house m

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

Borrowed from English house.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxaws/
• Rhymes: -aws
• Syllabification: house

house m inan

1. house music, house (genre of music)

• “house”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[5] (in Polish)

Unadapted borrowing from English house.

• Rhymes: -awzi

house m (uncountable)

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

   Synonym: música house

Unadapted borrowing from English house.

house m (uncountable)

1. house music

Unadapted borrowing from English house music.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxaus/ [ˈxau̯s]
• Rhymes: -aus

house m (uncountable)

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

   Synonym: música house

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “house”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

From English house music.

house c

1. house music, house (a genre of music)

• housemusik, house-musik