house

Less common meanings

12. 12
    dynastynouncountable or uncountable

    A dynasty; a family line, especially a royal or noble one, traced through its ancestors and descendants.

    The House of Habsburg dominated European politics for centuries.

    Two rival houses fought for control of the throne.

    UsageCapitalized in names, with of: the House of Habsburg, the House of Windsor.

    Similardynasty, family, line, lineage, clan

    Note

    A family seen as an institution that outlives its members. A curse can lie upon a house, as it does on Atreus's, because the house is what endures, not any single person in it. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • In Greek mythology, a curse afflicts the House of Atreus across generations. en.wikipedia.org
13. 13
    dance musicnoununcountable

    A genre of electronic dance music built on a steady four-on-the-floor beat, repetitive rhythms, and synthesized basslines.

    The DJ blended classic house with newer electronic tracks all evening.

    Chicago clubs were where house first found its audience.

    UsageDJs play house or classic house; the genre is also called house music.

    Note

    A name probably taken from The Warehouse, a Chicago nightclub where Frankie Knuckles was the resident DJ from 1977 to 1982, so its origin likely has nothing to do with home. Mark Jonathan Butler's Unlocking the Groove (2006) describes Chicago house as the first American dance style to catch on in the United Kingdom. Detroit imports there were often filed under house as a subcategory. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The name probably derives from The Warehouse nightclub in Chicago; the suggested lack of connection with ‘home’ follows from that probable derivation. en.wiktionary.org
    • Frankie Knuckles was the Warehouse’s resident DJ from 1977 to 1982. fr.wikipedia.org
    • Mark Jonathan Butler wrote Unlocking the Groove, published in 2006. iucat.iu.edu
    • Butler describes Chicago house as the first American dance-music genre to become popular in the United Kingdom. en.wiktionary.org
    • Music imported from Detroit was often classified in the United Kingdom as a subcategory of house. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    audiencenouncountable or uncountable

    The audience attending a live theatrical or similar performance, considered as a group.

    The performers walked out to a cheering house.

    A quiet house can make even a seasoned actor nervous.

    UsageIdioms: a packed house, bring the house down, not a dry eye in the house.

    Similaraudience, crowd

    Note

    The theater's name for its audience, treated as one body with one mood: a cheering house, a quiet house. Because a theater is also a place of entertainment, context decides the meaning: filling the house is about seats, while a cheering house is about people.

15. 15
    school teamnouncountable or uncountable

    A group of schoolchildren organized as a team for competition in sports and other activities.

    Every student is assigned to a house when they enroll.

    The four houses competed fiercely at the annual sports day.

16. 16
    nouncountable or uncountable

    An animal's shelter or den, or the protective shell of a creature such as a snail.

    The tortoise withdrew into its house at the first sign of danger.

    We built the rabbits a little wooden house behind the garage.

    Similarshell, den, shelter

17. 17
    pretend gamenoununcountable

    A make-believe game in which children take on the roles of people in a household, such as parents and children.

    On rainy days the children played house under the kitchen table.

    They laid out dolls and toy dishes to play house all morning.

    UsageMostly play house, with no a or the.

    Note

    The children are not playing inside a house; they are playing at being a household. Roles get handed out, and someone usually ends up as the mother. The game needs no real house at all, so it can happen under a kitchen table as easily as anywhere else. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Playing house involves pretending to be members of a household. en.wikipedia.org
    • Playing house does not require an actual house. ctac.esrc.unimelb.edu.au
18. 18
    verbintransitive

    To take shelter or lodging; to stay or dwell somewhere.

    You shall not house with me.

    c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”

    Similarlodge, stay, dwell, shelter, board

    Note

    Here the verb takes no object, and the lodger is the subject, as in Romeo and Juliet: "You shall not house with me." It pairs with with for the host and in or at for the place. That sets it apart from the sheltering verb, which takes the guest as its object. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The quoted words occur in Romeo and Juliet; Capulet speaks them to Juliet in Act 3, scene 5. folger.edu
19. 19
    verbtransitive

    To contain one part of an object so as to fix the position of the whole.

    Carpenters house the tenon in a matching slot to align the frame.

    The mortise houses the tenon and keeps the rail from twisting.

    Similarseat, hold

    Note

    A builder's and joiner's sense, usually followed by into. Joists housed into the side walls are seated in recesses in those walls rather than hung from them. The recess holds one part of the timber, and that grip fixes where the whole piece lies. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Joists housed into side walls are seated within the walls rather than hung from them. en.wiktionary.org
    • A housing receives part of a timber and thereby locates the piece. gutenberg.org
20. 20
    astrologynouncountable or uncountable

    Any one of the twelve sections into which an astrological chart is divided.

    She checked which house the moon was in before reading the chart aloud.

    A planet sitting on the line between two houses is harder to interpret.

    Note

    Astrology divides the chart into twelve houses, which are distinct from the twelve signs of the zodiac. Keith Thomas, in Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971), names planets, houses and signs as the fixed sets astrologers worked with. A planet is said to be in a house, and older astrology could also say that a planet houses there. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Astrological charts have twelve houses. en.wikipedia.org
    • Houses and zodiac signs are distinct components of a chart. en.wikipedia.org
    • Keith Thomas wrote Religion and the Decline of Magic, first published in 1971. pastandpresent.org.uk
    • Thomas discusses the limited sets of planets, houses and zodiac signs used by astrologers. en.wiktionary.org
    • A planet can be described as being in a house. en.wikipedia.org
    • Historical astrological usage includes house as a verb describing a planet's position. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    eat fastverbslangCanadaUStransitive

    To eat something, especially to gulp it down quickly.

    They housed the entire tray of nachos in minutes.

    I could house an entire pizza by myself right now.

    UsageOften used with a whole dish or a large amount: house a pizza. In formal writing, use eat or devour.

    Similardevour, wolf, scarf, gobble, inhale

    Note

    North American slang, and very casual. In Shameless (2019), a character is accused of wanting only to "drink a fifth, house a lasagna." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The quoted Shameless episode was released in 2019. en.wikipedia.org
    • Shameless contains the quoted accusation about drinking and eating lasagna. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    curlingnouncountable or uncountable

    The four concentric circles on the ice where points are scored in curling.

    The skip aimed to draw her stone gently into the house.

    Only stones resting in the house count toward the score.

    Note

    Curling's target: the four concentric circles at the end of the sheet. Players draw stones into the house or knock rivals out of it. Only stones resting in the house count toward the score, so every shot is played with the house in mind. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The house has three concentric rings surrounding the central button: four concentric circles altogether. curling.ca
    • The house is a target at the end of the curling sheet. curling.ca
    • Players draw stones into the house. usacurling.org
    • Players can knock opposing stones out of the house. usacurling.org
    • Only stones resting in the house are eligible to score, including stones touching its boundary. worldcurling.org
23. 23
    end zonenounslangcountable or uncountable

    In American football, the end zone.

    She watched him carry the kickoff all the way to the house.

    Nothing could stop the running back from reaching the house.

    UsageWith the: take it to the house, go to the house; formal reporting says the end zone.

24. 24
    nounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

    A place that offers rest or repose.

    Similarhaven, refuge, sanctuary, abode

    Note

    A poet's metaphor more than an everyday noun: the literal home lent to whatever holds something at rest. It usually comes in an of-phrase that names what dwells there, as in Walter Scott's "peaceful house of death" in The Lord of the Isles (1815) or "houses of the brain" in Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour (1601). Outside verse or elevated prose it sounds deliberate, so save it for writing that wants that weight. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Walter Scott wrote "peaceful house of death" in The Lord of the Isles; Edward Bruce speaks the words in Canto IV. archive.org
    • The Lord of the Isles was first published in 1815. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
    • Ben Jonson wrote "houses of the brain"; Thorello speaks the words in the original version of Every Man in His Humour. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • Every Man in His Humour was first performed in 1598 but first published in 1601, as its first-edition title-page imprint confirms. emed.folger.edu
25. 25
    nouncountable or uncountable

    The game of lotto or bingo.

    Similarbingo, lotto

26. 26
    verbtransitive

    To stow something in a safe place; to take it down and make it secure.

    They housed the anchor properly before leaving port.

    Deckhands house the topmast in heavy weather.

    Similarstow, secure

    Note

    Seamanship's version of stowing, where taking down matters as much as putting away. To house the upper spars is to lower them and make them fast so the ship rides out weather more safely. The objects are a vessel's own gear, such as spars, a topmast or an anchor. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The nautical sense involves stowing safely or taking down and securing. en.wiktionary.org
    • Housing upper spars involves lowering and securing them. gutenberg.org
    • Housing upper masts helps a ship withstand bad weather. ussconstitutionmuseum.org
    • The nautical verb applies to a vessel's equipment, including an anchor as well as spars and topmasts. upload.wikimedia.org
27. 27
    sudokunouncountable or uncountable

    In a sudoku puzzle, a set of cells (such as a row, column, or 3×3 box) that must contain each digit exactly once.

    A single row forms one house, so each digit can appear in it only once.

    Solvers scan each house to find the only place a given digit can go.

    Note

    Sudoku solvers' umbrella term for the three kinds of unit: row, column and 3×3 box. Rules and techniques are stated per house, since each digit must appear once in every house. Every cell belongs to three houses at once, so placing a digit in one house constrains the other two. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • House is an umbrella term for a row, column or box in sudoku. sudokuwiki.org
    • The boxes in standard sudoku are 3×3 regions. en.wikipedia.org
    • The shared requirement that each digit occur once allows rules and techniques to be expressed for houses collectively. en.wikipedia.org
    • Each cell belongs to a row, column and box simultaneously; its digit must satisfy all three houses' constraints. jon-marks.github.io
28. 28
    shelter for poornounhistoricalcountable or uncountable

    A workhouse, a public institution where the poor were given food and shelter in exchange for labor.

    With no work and no family to help, the old widow had to go into the house, where she scrubbed floors for her keep.

    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.

    1834, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Reports from the Commissioners

    Similarworkhouse, poorhouse

    Note

    A historical shortening, used as if no other house needed naming. In Great Britain's 1834 Reports from the Commissioners, a pauper declares that rather than be sent to the house he would look out for work. The threat carried by the bare word is the point. Today it belongs to writing about that period, not to modern speech. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • House historically meant a workhouse. en.wiktionary.org
    • The passage reports a pauper saying he would seek work rather than enter the workhouse. en.wiktionary.org
29. 29
    nounHong Kong

    Any residential block of apartments forming part of a public housing estate.
30. 30
    noun

    In the Lenormand fortune-telling deck, card number four, which pictures a house.
31. 31
    nounarchaic

    The chessboard square thought of as the rightful spot for a particular piece.
32. 32
    noundialectalUS

    A small grove growing on a patch of swampland.
33. 33
    verb

    Of a planet, to be placed in a particular section of an astrological chart, of which there are twelve.
34. 34
    verbobsolete

    To chase or herd people or animals into a place of shelter.

    Euen now we hous'd him in the Abbey heere

    c. 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”
35. 35
    verbobsolete

    To put something away and cover it over, as when burying the dead.

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

    1636, G[eorge] S[andys], A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David