Also spelled hahse and ouse

US /ˈhæʊ̯s/ UK /ˈhaʊ̯s/
noun Freq #205

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A building where one or more people live.

    They have a house on Cape Cod.

  2. 2
    noun

    A building used to shelter or store something.

    They kept the carriages in a large carriage house.

  3. 3
    noun

    A group of people who make laws together.

    A bicameral legislature has two houses.

  4. 4
    noun

    A company or business, especially one in a particular field.

    They worked for a respected publishing house.

  5. 5
    noun

    The audience in a theatre or cinema, or the building itself.

    The play drew a full house every night.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
4 noun · a company or business,... firmbusiness firm
5 noun · the audience in a theatre... theatertheatre
Word family
Forms housedhouselesshouses
Derived forms airhouseale-housealehousealms-housealmshousearmshouseart-housebaby-houseback-housebackhousebaghousebakehouse
Related forms haushausssenate

Common collocations

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 En…

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