Noun

Singular house

Plural houses

house (plural houses)

1. A structure serving as an abode of human beings.

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

2. The mode of living as if in a house.

   They set up house in a posh apartment.

3. The usual place to find an object or an animal.

   The photo was put in its little house.

4. A structure to protect or store something or someone.

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

5. A protective structure on the deck of a ship.

   A pilot took charge of the wheel house until the ship was moored.

6. A theatre building, or the audience for a live theatrical or similar performance.

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

7. A debating chamber for government politicians.
8. An establishment, whether actual, as a pub, or virtual, as a website.
9. (business) A company or organisation.

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

10. A dynasty, a familial descendance, for example, a royal House.

    The current Queen is from the House of Windsor.

11. (astrology) One of the twelve divisions of an astrological chart.
12. 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.

13. House music.
14. (curling) The three concentric circles where points are scored on the ice
15. An early or alternative name for the game bingo.
16. (British) A complete set of numbers in bingo.
17. (uncountable, US) An aggregate of characteristics of a house.
    • 1990 Feb 24, “Goin' South Affordable is trendy in these suburbs”, Chicago Tribune:

      In comparison with the western suburbs, we felt we could get a lot more house for the money.

    • 2005 Jan 16, “DOWNSIZERS LIVE IT UP - BABY BOOMERS WANT SMALLER HOMES WITH LOTS OF...”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

      There's just a huge number of people who are close to retirement and feel they have too much house on too much property.

    • 2007 Nov 6, “When Will the Slump End?”, Newsweek:

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

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• acid house
• birdhouse
• boathouse
• bring the house down
• frame house
• full house
• get on like a house on fire
• glasshouse
• greenhouse
• house arrest

• houseboat
• housebreaker
• housecoat
• household
• householder
• housekeeper
• housekeeping
• house leader
• house lights
• housemaid

• house music
• houseplant
• house-train
• house warming
• housewife
• house wine
• housework
• housy-housy
• lighthouse
• lower house

• meetinghouse
• play house
• playhouse
• prisonhouse
• royal house
• tribal house
• upper house
• on the house
• house of worship

Related terms

• housing

A house is generally a shelter or building or structure that is a dwelling or place for habitation by human beings. The term includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to high-rise apartment buildings. In some contexts, "house" may mean the same as dwelling, residence, home, abode, lodging, accommodation, or housing, among other meanings.

The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household. Most commonly, a household is a family unit of some kind, though households can be other social groups, such as single persons, or groups of unrelated individuals. Settled agrarian and industrial societies are composed of household units living permanently in housing of various types, according to a variety of forms of land tenure. English-speaking people generally call any building they routinely occupy "home". Many people leave their houses during the day for work and recreation, and return to them to sleep or for other activities.