House1, n.
n.; pl. HOUS'ES. [A-S., O. Sax., O. Fries., Goth., Icel., Sw., & O. H. Ger. hūs, Dan. huus, D. huis, N. H. Ger. haus.]
Sense 1. A building intended or used as a habitation or shelter for animals of any kind; but especially a building or edifice for the habitation of man; a dwelling-place, mansion, or abode for any of the human species.
Sense 2. Household affairs; domestic concerns; interests of housekeeping or of a family; particularly in the phrases to keep house, to maintain an independent family establishment; to keep a good house, to carry on one's domestic concerns with success, and especially to set a good table, to provide well for guests.
Sense 3. Those who dwell in a house together; a household; a family.
Cornelius, . . . a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house. Acts x. 2.
Sense 4. A family of ancestors, descendants, and kindred; a race of persons from the same stock; a tribe; especially, a noble family or an illustrious race; as, the house of Austria; the house of Hanover; the house of Israel, or of Judah.
Two of a house few ages can afford. Dryden.
Sense 5. One of the estates of a kingdom assembled in parliament or legislature; a body of men united in their legislative capacity; as, the House of Lords or Peers of Great Britain; the House of Commons; the House of Representatives.
Sense 6. (Com.) A firm or commercial establishment; as, the house of Baring & Brothers.
Sense 7. (Astrol.) A twelfth part of the heavens, as divided by six circles intersecting at the north and south points of the horizon, used by astrologers in noting the positions of the heavenly bodies, and casting horoscopes or nativities. The houses were regarded as fixed in respect to the horizon, and numbered from the one at the eastern horizon, called the ascendant, first house, or house of life, downward, or in the order of the planetary motions, the stars and planets passing through them in the reverse order every twenty-four hours.
Sense 8. A square on a chess-board, regarded as the proper place of a piece.
Sense 9. A place where guests are received and entertained for compensation; an inn; a hotel; as, the Astor House in New York.
House of call, a place, usually a public house, where journeymen connected with a particular trade assemble when out of work, ready for the call of employers. [Eng.] Simmonds.—House of correction, a prison for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, vagrants, trespassers, &c.—House of God, a temple or church.—Religious house, a monastery or convent.—To bring down the whole house, to draw forth a burst of applause from the entire audience in a theater, or other place of assembly.
Synonyms—Tenement; dwelling; residence. See TENEMENT.