Word: house Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH-der.? Proto-Germanic *hūsą Proto-West Germanic *hūs Old English hūs Middle English hous English 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.) Cognates Cognate with Scots hoose, oos (“house”), Yola heouse, houze, howze (“house”), North Frisian hüs (“house”), Saterland Frisian Huus, Húus (“house”), West Frisian hûs (“house”), Alemannic German hous, hus, husch, hüs, hüüsch (“house”), Bavarian, Cimbrian, Mòcheno haus (“house”), Central Franconian Haus, Hous, Huus (“home”), Dutch huis (“house”), Dutch Low Saxon hoes, huus (“house”), German Haus, Hauß (“house”), German Low German Huus (“house”), Limburgish hoes, Huus (“house”), Luxembourgish Haus (“house”), Vilamovian haojs, haus, hoüz (“house”), Yiddish הויז (hoyz, “house”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hus (“house”), Elfdalian aus (“house”), Faroese and Icelandic hús (“house”), Crimean Gothic hus (“house”); also Cornish kudha (“to conceal, hide”), Welsh cuddio (“to hide”), Latin cutis (“human skin; hide, leather”), Ancient Greek κεύθω (keúthō, “to cover, hide”), Tocharian A kāc (“hide, skin”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “to cover”). Pronunciation: /ˈhaʊ̯s/, [ˈhaʊ̯s], /ˈhaws/, /ˈhæʊ̯s/, [ˈhæʊ̯s] 1. A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: This is my house and my family's ancestral home. Example: 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,[…]. 2. A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings. Labels: Hong-Kong, countable, uncountable 3. A container; a thing which houses another. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 4. Size and quality of residential accommodations; housing. Labels: uncountable Example: Those homeowners who bought too much house, or borrowed against inflated values are now going to be liable for their own poor decisions. 5. A building intended to contain a single household, as opposed to an apartment or condominium or building containing these. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. The people who live in a house; a household. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: one that feared God with all his house 7. A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The former carriage house had been made over into a guest house. Example: On arriving at the zoo, we immediately headed for the monkey house. 8. A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A small publishing house would have a contract with an independent fulfillment house. Example: 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. 9. A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: One more, sir, then I'll have to stop serving you – rules of the house, I'm afraid. Example: The house always wins. 10. A building used for something other than a residence (typically with qualifying word). Labels: countable, historical, uncountable Example: 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. 11. The audience for a live theatrical or similar performance. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: After her swan-song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Example: 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. 12. A building where a deliberative assembly meets; whence the assembly itself, particularly a component of a legislature. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The petition was so ridiculous that the house rejected it after minimal debate. 13. A dynasty; a family with its ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble one. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A curse lay upon the House of Atreus. 14. A place of rest or repose. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: Like a pestilence, it doth infect / The houses of the brain. Example: Such hate was his, when his last breath / Renounced the peaceful house of death […]. 15. A grouping of schoolchildren for the purposes of competition in sports and other activities. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I was a member of Spenser house when I was at school. 16. An animal's shelter or den, or the shell of an animal such as a snail, used for protection. Labels: countable, uncountable 17. One of the twelve divisions of an astrological chart. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 18. The fourth Lenormand card. Labels: countable, uncountable 19. A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable 20. The four concentric circles where points are scored on the ice. Labels: countable, uncountable 21. Lotto; bingo. Labels: countable, uncountable 22. A children's game in which the players pretend to be members of a household. Labels: uncountable Example: As the babysitter, Emma always acted as the mother whenever the kids demanded to play house. 23. A small stand of trees in a swamp. Labels: US, countable, dialectal, uncountable 24. A set of cells in a sudoku puzzle which must contain each digit exactly once, such as a row, column, or 3×3 box. Labels: countable, uncountable 25. The end zone. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable