housing

1
[ hou-zing ]
See synonyms for housing on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any shelter, lodging, or dwelling place.

  2. houses collectively.

  1. the act of one who houses or puts under shelter.

  2. the providing of houses for a group or community: the housing of an influx of laborers.

  3. anything that covers or protects.

  4. Machinery. a fully enclosed case and support for a mechanism.

  5. Carpentry. the space made in one piece of wood, or the like, for the insertion of another.

  6. Nautical.

    • Also called bury . the portion of a mast below the deck.

    • Also called bury . the portion of a bowsprit aft of the forward part of the stem of a vessel.

    • the doubling of an upper mast.

  7. a niche for a statue.

Origin of housing

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; house + -ing1

Other words for housing

Words Nearby housing

Other definitions for housing (2 of 2)

housing2
[ hou-zing ]

noun
  1. a covering of cloth for the back and flanks of a horse or other animal, for protection or ornament.

  2. housings, the trappings on a horse.

Origin of housing

2
First recorded in 1690–1700; compare earlier house, Middle English hous(e), houc(e) in same sense, from Old French houce, from unrecorded Germanic hulfti- (compare Medieval Latin hultia ), akin to Middle Dutch hulfte “cover for bow and arrow,” Middle High German hulft “covering”; -ing1 added by association with house, housing1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use housing in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for housing (1 of 2)

housing1

/ (ˈhaʊzɪŋ) /


noun
    • houses or dwellings collectively

    • (as modifier): a housing problem

  1. the act of providing with accommodation

  1. a hole, recess, groove, or slot made in one wooden member to receive another

  2. 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

  3. another word for houseline

British Dictionary definitions for housing (2 of 2)

housing2

/ (ˈhaʊzɪŋ) /


noun
  1. (often plural) archaic another word for trappings (def. 2)

Origin of housing

2
C14: from Old French houce covering, of Germanic origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012