| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| house | |
| —n , pl houses | |
| 1. | a. a building used as a home; dwelling |
| b. (as modifier): house dog | |
| 2. | the people present in a house, esp its usual occupants |
| 3. | a. a building used for some specific purpose |
| b. (in combination): a schoolhouse | |
| 4. | (often capital) a family line including ancestors and relatives, esp a noble one: the House of York |
| 5. | a. a commercial company; firm: a publishing house |
| b. (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 See also planet any of the 12 divisions of the zodiac |
| 10. | a. any of several divisions, esp residential, of a large school |
| b. (as modifier): house spirit | |
| 11. | a. a hotel, restaurant, bar, inn, club, etc, or the management of such an establishment |
| b. (as modifier): house rules | |
| c. (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 |
| —vb | |
| 26. | (tr) to provide with or serve as accommodation |
| 27. | to give or receive shelter or lodging |
| 28. | (tr) to contain or cover, esp in order to protect |
| 29. | (tr) to fit (a piece of wood) into a mortise, joint, etc |
| 30. | (tr) nautical |
| a. to secure or stow | |
| b. to secure (a topmast) | |
| c. to secure and stow (an anchor) | |
| [Old English hūs; related to Old High German hūs, Gothic gudhūs temple, Old Norse hūs house] | |
| 'houseless | |
| —adj | |
House (haʊs) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | See House of Commons |
| 2. | informal (Brit) the Stock Exchange |
| House music or House | |
| —n | |
| a type of disco music originating in the late 1980s, based on funk, with fragments of other recordings edited in electronically | |
| House or House | |
| —n | |
housing1 (ˈhaʊzɪŋ) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a. houses or dwellings collectively |
| b. (as modifier): a housing problem | |
| 2. | the act of providing with accommodation |
| 3. | a hole, recess, groove, or slot made in one wooden member to receive another |
| 4. | a part designed to shelter, cover, contain, or support a component, such as a bearing, or a mechanism, such as a pump or wheel: a bearing housing; a motor housing; a wheel housing |
| 5. | another word for houseline |
housing2 (ˈhaʊzɪŋ) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| archaic (often plural) another word for trappings | |
| [C14: from Old French houce covering, of Germanic origin] | |
"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]
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).