house

[n., adj. hous; v. houz] /n., adj. haʊs; v. haʊz/
noun, plural houses
[hou-ziz] /ˈhaʊ zɪz/ (Show IPA)
1.
a building in which people live; residence for human beings.
2.
a household.
3.
(often initial capital letter) a family, including ancestors and descendants:
the great houses of France; the House of Hapsburg.
4.
a building for any purpose:
a house of worship.
5.
a theater, concert hall, or auditorium:
a vaudeville house.
6.
the audience of a theater or the like.
7.
a place of shelter for an animal, bird, etc.
8.
the building in which a legislative or official deliberative body meets.
9.
(initial capital letter) the body itself, especially of a bicameral legislature:
the House of Representatives.
10.
a quorum of such a body.
11.
(often initial capital letter) a commercial establishment; business firm:
the House of Rothschild; a publishing house.
12.
a gambling casino.
13.
the management of a commercial establishment or of a gambling casino:
rules of the house.
14.
an advisory or deliberative group, especially in church or college affairs.
15.
a college in an English-type university.
16.
a residential hall in a college or school; dormitory.
17.
the members or residents of any such residential hall.
18.
Informal. a brothel; whorehouse.
19.
British. a variety of lotto or bingo played with paper and pencil, especially by soldiers as a gambling game.
20.
Also called parish. Curling. the area enclosed by a circle 12 or 14 feet (3.7 or 4.2 meters) in diameter at each end of the rink, having the tee in the center.
21.
Nautical. any enclosed shelter above the weather deck of a vessel:
bridge house; deck house.
22.
Astrology. one of the 12 divisions of the celestial sphere, numbered counterclockwise from the point of the eastern horizon.
verb (used with object), housed [houzd] /haʊzd/ (Show IPA), housing [hou-zing] /ˈhaʊ zɪŋ/ (Show IPA)
23.
to put or receive into a house, dwelling, or living quarters:
More than 200 students were housed in the dormitory.
24.
to give shelter to; harbor; lodge:
to house flood victims in schools.
25.
to provide with a place to work, study, or the like:
This building houses our executive staff.
26.
to provide storage space for; be a receptacle for or repository of:
The library houses 600,000 books.
27.
to remove from exposure; put in a safe place.
28.
Nautical.
  1. to stow securely.
  2. to lower (an upper mast) and make secure, as alongside the lower mast.
  3. to heave (an anchor) home.
29.
Carpentry.
  1. to fit the end or edge of (a board or the like) into a notch, hole, or groove.
  2. to form (a joint) between two pieces of wood by fitting the end or edge of one into a dado of the other.
verb (used without object), housed [houzd] /haʊzd/ (Show IPA), housing [hou-zing] /ˈhaʊ zɪŋ/ (Show IPA)
30.
to take shelter; dwell.
adjective
31.
of, pertaining to, or noting a house.
32.
for or suitable for a house:
house paint.
33.
of or being a product made by or for a specific retailer and often sold under the store's own label:
You'll save money on the radio if you buy the house brand.
34.
served by a restaurant as its customary brand:
the house wine.
Idioms
35.
bring down the house, to call forth vigorous applause from an audience; be highly successful:
The children's performances brought down the house.
36.
clean house. clean (def 48).
37.
dress the house, Theater.
  1. to fill a theater with many people admitted on free passes; paper the house.
  2. to arrange or space the seating of patrons in such a way as to make an audience appear larger or a theater or nightclub more crowded than it actually is.
38.
keep house, to maintain a home; manage a household.
39.
like a house on fire / afire, very quickly; with energy or enthusiasm:
The new product took off like a house on fire.
40.
on the house, as a gift from the management; free:
Tonight the drinks are on the house.
41.
put / set one's house in order,
  1. to settle one's affairs.
  2. to improve one's behavior or correct one's faults:
    It is easy to criticize others, but it would be better to put one's own house in order first.
Origin
before 900; (noun) Middle English h(o)us, Old English hūs; cognate with Dutch huis, Low German huus, Old Norse hūs, German Haus, Gothic -hūs (in gudhūs temple); (v.) Middle English housen, Old English hūsian, derivative of the noun
Related forms
subhouse, noun
well-housed, adjective
Can be confused
home, house (see synonym study at the current entry)
Synonyms
1. domicile. House, dwelling, residence, home are terms applied to a place to live in. Dwelling is now chiefly poetic, or used in legal or technical contexts, as in a lease or in the phrase multiple dwelling. Residence is characteristic of formal usage and often implies size and elegance of structure and surroundings: the private residence of the king. These two terms and house have always had reference to the structure to be lived in. Home has recently taken on this meaning and become practically equivalent to house, the new meaning tending to crowd out the older connotations of family ties and domestic comfort. See also hotel.
British Dictionary definitions for like a house afire

house

noun (haʊs) (pl) houses (ˈhaʊzɪz)
1.
  1. a building used as a home; dwelling
  2. (as modifier): house dog
2.
the people present in a house, esp its usual occupants
3.
  1. a building used for some specific purpose
  2. (in combination): a schoolhouse
4.
(often capital) a family line including ancestors and relatives, esp a noble one: the House of York
5.
  1. a commercial company; firm: a publishing house
  2. (as modifier): house style, a house journal
6.
an official deliberative or legislative body, such as one chamber of a bicameral legislature
7.
a quorum in such a body (esp in the phrase make a house)
8.
a dwelling for a religious community
9.
(astrology) any of the 12 divisions of the zodiac See also planet (sense 3)
10.
  1. any of several divisions, esp residential, of a large school
  2. (as modifier): house spirit
11.
  1. a hotel, restaurant, bar, inn, club, etc, or the management of such an establishment
  2. (as modifier): house rules
  3. (in combination): steakhouse
12.
(modifier) (of wine) sold unnamed by a restaurant, at a lower price than wines specified on the wine list: the house red
13.
the audience in a theatre or cinema
14.
an informal word for brothel
15.
a hall in which an official deliberative or legislative body meets
16.
See full house
17.
(curling) the 12-foot target circle around the tee
18.
(nautical) any structure or shelter on the weather deck of a vessel
19.
(theatre) bring the house down, to win great applause
20.
house and home, an emphatic form of home
21.
keep open house, to be always ready to provide hospitality
22.
(informal) like a house on fire, very well, quickly, or intensely
23.
on the house, (usually of drinks) paid for by the management of the hotel, bar, etc
24.
put one's house in order, to settle or organize one's affairs
25.
(Brit) safe as houses, very secure
verb (haʊz)
26.
(transitive) to provide with or serve as accommodation
27.
to give or receive shelter or lodging
28.
(transitive) to contain or cover, esp in order to protect
29.
(transitive) to fit (a piece of wood) into a mortise, joint, etc
30.
(transitive) (nautical)
  1. to secure or stow
  2. to secure (a topmast)
  3. to secure and stow (an anchor)
Derived Forms
houseless, adjective
Word Origin
Old English hūs; related to Old High German hūs, Gothic gudhūs temple, Old Norse hūs house

House

/haʊs/
noun the House
1.
See House of Commons
2.
(Brit, informal) the Stock Exchange
Word Origin and History for like a house afire

house

n.

Old English hus "dwelling, shelter, house," from Proto-Germanic *husan (cf. Old Norse, Old Frisian hus, Dutch huis, German Haus), of unknown origin, perhaps connected to the root of hide (v.) [OED]. In Gothic only in gudhus "temple," literally "god-house;" the usual word for "house" in Gothic being razn.

Meaning "family, including ancestors and descendants, especially if noble" is from c.1000. The legislative sense (1540s) is transferred from the building in which the body meets. Meaning "audience in a theater" is from 1660s (transferred from the theater itself, cf. playhouse); as a dance club DJ music style, probably from the Warehouse, a Chicago nightclub where the style is said to have originated. Zodiac sense is first attested late 14c. To play house is from 1871; as suggestive of "have sex, shack up," 1968. House arrest first attested 1936. On the house "free" is from 1889.

And the Prophet Isaiah the sonne of Amos came to him, and saide vnto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not liue. [2 Kings xx:1, version of 1611]

v.

"give shelter to," Old English husian "to take into a house" (cognate with German hausen, Dutch huizen); see house (n.). Related: Housed; housing.

Slang definitions & phrases for like a house afire

like a house afire

adverb phrase

Forcefully and without delay: The crowd burst through the gate, like a house afire (1863+)


house

noun
  1. A brothel; cathouse, whorehouse •Earlier occurrences, from 1726 on, have modifiers: of ill repute, of ill fame, of assignation, of accommodation, etc: A House is not a Home (1865+)
  2. The audience at a theater (1921+)
  3. A kind of dance music derived from soul, rock, and jazz, with a strong percussive beat, originally a black Chicago style •Comes in many varieties: deep house, garage, tribal, progressive, etc: to introduce Southern California to ''house,'' the technologically sophisticated dance music that has taken the country by storm/ For years, dance-club regulars have been expecting the boom-chucka-boom beat of house music to conquer pop (mid-1980s+)
Related Terms

barrelhouse, the big house, bring down the house, bughouse, call house, can house, cathouse, chippy house, crackhouse, doss, fleabag, flophouse, funny farm, grind-house, hash-house, juke house, notch-house, nuthouse, on the house, powerhouse, roughhouse, roundhouse, sporting house, stroke house, wheelhouse, whorehouse

[third sense fr the Warehouse, a Chicago club]


like a house afire in the Bible

Till their sojourn in Egypt the Hebrews dwelt in tents. They then for the first time inhabited cities (Gen. 47:3; Ex. 12:7; Heb. 11:9). From the earliest times the Assyrians and the Canaanites were builders of cities. The Hebrews after the Conquest took possession of the captured cities, and seem to have followed the methods of building that had been pursued by the Canaanites. Reference is made to the stone (1 Kings 7:9; Isa. 9:10) and marble (1 Chr. 29:2) used in building, and to the internal wood-work of the houses (1 Kings 6:15; 7:2; 10:11, 12; 2 Chr. 3:5; Jer. 22:14). "Ceiled houses" were such as had beams inlaid in the walls to which wainscotting was fastened (Ezra 6:4; Jer. 22:14; Hag. 1:4). "Ivory houses" had the upper parts of the walls adorned with figures in stucco with gold and ivory (1 Kings 22:39; 2 Chr. 3:6; Ps. 45:8). The roofs of the dwelling-houses were flat, and are often alluded to in Scripture (2 Sam. 11:2; Isa. 22:1; Matt. 24:17). Sometimes tents or booths were erected on them (2 Sam. 16:22). They were protected by parapets or low walls (Deut. 22:8). On the house-tops grass sometimes grew (Prov. 19:13; 27:15; Ps. 129:6, 7). They were used, not only as places of recreation in the evening, but also sometimes as sleeping-places at night (1 Sam. 9:25, 26; 2 Sam. 11:2; 16:22; Dan. 4:29; Job 27:18; Prov. 21:9), and as places of devotion (Jer. 32:29; 19:13).

Idioms and Phrases with like a house afire

like a house afire

see under get along , def. 1.

house

In addition to the idiom beginning with
house
also see: