From Middle English hous, hus, from Old English hūs, from Proto-West Germanic *hūs, from Proto-Germanic *hūsą (compare Scots hoose, Western Frisian hûs, Dutch huis, German Haus, nds-de Huus, Danish hus, Faroese hús, Icelandic hús, Norwegian Bokmål hus, Norwegian Nynorsk hus and Swedish hus), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kews-, from *(s)kewH- ("to cover, hide").

The uncommon plural form housen is from Middle English husen, housen.

• enPR: hous, IPA: /haʊs/
• (Canada, Virginia, Scotland) IPA: /hʌʊs/
• (Geordie) IPA: /huːs/

house

1. 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, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →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.
2. A container; a thing which houses another.
3. (uncountable) Size and quality of residential accommodations; housing.
4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

   1. 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.

   2. 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.

   3. (historical) A workhouse.
7. 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.

8. (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.

9. 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.

10. (metaphorical) 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  […].

11. 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.

12. An animal's shelter or den, or the shell of an animal such as a snail, used for protection. [from 10th c.]
13. (astrology) One of the twelve divisions of an astrological chart. [from 14th c.]
14. (cartomancy) The fourth Lenormand card.
15. (chess, now, rare) A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece. [from 16th c.]
16. (curling) The four concentric circles where points are scored on the ice. [from 19th c.]
17. Lotto; bingo. [from 20th c.]
18. (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.

19. (US, dialect) A small stand of trees in a swamp.
20. (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.

• shop
• shop

see house/translations

From Middle English housen, from Old English hūsian, from Proto-Germanic *hūsōną, from the noun (see above).

• enPR: houz, IPA: /haʊz/

house (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: Or The 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.

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.

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

10. (North America, slang, transitive) To eat; especially, to scarf down.
    • 2019, Joe Lawson (writer), Shameless (Shameless (season 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.

• store
• accommodate, harbor/harbour, host, put up
• enclose

• French: garer, loger
• Italian: collocare
• Portuguese: armazenar
• Russian: вмеща́ть
• Spanish: almacenar

• French: héberger, abriter, loger
• German: unterbringen, beherbergen
• Italian: alloggiare
• Portuguese: alojar, hospedar
• Russian: помеща́ть
• Spanish: alojar, hospedar, albergar

• Spanish: encajar, envolver

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

• enPR: hous, IPA: /haʊs/

house (uncountable)

1. (music genre) House music.

• As an English surname, from the noun house.
• Also as an English surname, variant of Howes.
• Also as a topographic English surname, from a derivative of Old English hyse, from hos.
• As a German - surname, calqued from the surname Haus.

1. (politics) A particular chamber of political representation
   1. (US politics, as "the House") Ellipsis of House of Representatives
   2. (politics, Westminsterian parliamentary systems) Ellipsis of House of Commons
   3. (politics) Ellipsis of House of Parliament
   4. More generally, a shortened name for any chamber of a legislature that is named "House of...", especially where the other chamber(s) are not so named, or where there is no other chamber (unicameral).
2. A placename
   1. A village in New Mexico.
   2. An unincorporated community in North Carolina.
3. Surname for someone residing in a house (as opposed to a hut) or in a religious house.
4. (Oxon slang, dated) Christ Church, Oxford.