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4 results for: like a house on fire

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
house    Audio Help   [n., adj. hous; v. houz] Pronunciation Key noun, plural hous·es    Audio Help   [hou-ziz] Pronunciation Key, verb, housed, hous·ing, adjective
–noun
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, esp. 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, esp. 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, esp. by soldiers as a gambling game.
20.Also called parish. Curling. the area enclosed by a circle 12 or 14 ft. (3.7 or 4.2 m) 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)
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.
a.to stow securely.
b.to lower (an upper mast) and make secure, as alongside the lower mast.
c.to heave (an anchor) home.
29.Carpentry.
a.to fit the end or edge of (a board or the like) into a notch, hole, or groove.
b.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)
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.
a.to fill a theater with many people admitted on free passes; paper the house.
b.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 or 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 or set one's house in order,
a.to settle one's affairs.
b.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: bef. 900; (n.) ME h(o)us, OE hūs; c. D huis, LG huus, ON hūs, G Haus, Goth -hūs (in gudhūs temple); (v.) ME housen, OE hūsian, deriv. of the n.]

—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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
house    Audio Help   (hous)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. hous·es (hou'zĭz, -sĭz)
    1. A structure serving as a dwelling for one or more persons, especially for a family.
    2. A household or family.
    3. A facility, such as a theater or restaurant, that provides entertainment or food for the public: a movie house; the specialty of the house.
    4. The audience or patrons of such an establishment: a full house.
    5. A commercial firm: a brokerage house.
    6. A publishing company: a house that specializes in cookbooks.
    7. A gambling casino.
    8. Slang A house of prostitution.
    9. often House A legislative or deliberative assembly.
    10. The hall or chamber in which such an assembly meets.
    11. A quorum of such an assembly.
    12. One of the 12 parts into which the heavens are divided in astrology.
    13. The sign of the zodiac indicating the seat or station of a planet in the heavens. Also called mansion.
  2. Something, such as a burrow or shell, that serves as a shelter or habitation for a wild animal.
  3. A dwelling for a group of people, such as students or members of a religious community, who live together as a unit: a sorority house.
  4. A building that functions as the primary shelter or location of something: a carriage house; the lion house at the zoo.
    1. A facility, such as a theater or restaurant, that provides entertainment or food for the public: a movie house; the specialty of the house.
    2. The audience or patrons of such an establishment: a full house.
    3. A commercial firm: a brokerage house.
    4. A publishing company: a house that specializes in cookbooks.
    5. A gambling casino.
    6. Slang A house of prostitution.
    7. often House A legislative or deliberative assembly.
    8. The hall or chamber in which such an assembly meets.
    9. A quorum of such an assembly.
    10. One of the 12 parts into which the heavens are divided in astrology.
    11. The sign of the zodiac indicating the seat or station of a planet in the heavens. Also called mansion.
    1. A commercial firm: a brokerage house.
    2. A publishing company: a house that specializes in cookbooks.
    3. A gambling casino.
    4. Slang A house of prostitution.
    5. often House A legislative or deliberative assembly.
    6. The hall or chamber in which such an assembly meets.
    7. A quorum of such an assembly.
    8. One of the 12 parts into which the heavens are divided in astrology.
    9. The sign of the zodiac indicating the seat or station of a planet in the heavens. Also called mansion.
  7. A residential college within a university.
    1. often House A legislative or deliberative assembly.
    2. The hall or chamber in which such an assembly meets.
    3. A quorum of such an assembly.
    4. One of the 12 parts into which the heavens are divided in astrology.
    5. The sign of the zodiac indicating the seat or station of a planet in the heavens. Also called mansion.
  9. often House A family line including ancestors and descendants, especially a royal or noble family: the House of Orange.
    1. One of the 12 parts into which the heavens are divided in astrology.
    2. The sign of the zodiac indicating the seat or station of a planet in the heavens. Also called mansion.
  11. House music.

v.   (houz) housed, hous·ing, hous·es

v.   tr.
  1. To provide living quarters for; lodge: The cottage housed ten students.
  2. To shelter, keep, or store in or as if in a house: a library housing rare books.
  3. To contain; harbor.
  4. To fit into a socket or mortise.
  5. Nautical To secure or stow safely.

v.   intr.
  1. To reside; dwell.
  2. To take shelter.


[Middle English hous, from Old English hūs.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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