like a house afire
zɪz 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, especially 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, especially 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, especially by soldiers as a gambling game.
20.
Also called parish. Curling. the area enclosed by a circle 12 or 14 feet (3.7 or 4.2 meters) 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.
00:10
Like a house afire
is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
verb (used without object)
30.
to take shelter; dwell.
adjective
Idioms 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.
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.
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/afire, very quickly; with energy or enthusiasm: The new product took off like a house on fire.
Origin:
before 900; (noun) Middle English h(o)us, Old English hūs; cognate with Dutch huis, Low German huus, Old Norse hūs, German Haus, Gothic -hūs (in gudhūs temple); (v.) Middle English housen, Old English hūsian, derivative of the noun
before 900; (noun) Middle English h(o)us, Old English hūs; cognate with Dutch huis, Low German huus, Old Norse hūs, German Haus, Gothic -hūs (in gudhūs temple); (v.) Middle English housen, Old English hūsian, derivative of the noun
Related forms
sub·house, noun
well-housed, adjective
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.
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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To like a house afire
Collins
World English Dictionary
| 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) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —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 | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
house
O.E. hus "dwelling, shelter, house," from P.Gmc. *khusan (cf. O.N., O.Fris. hus, Du. huis, Ger. Haus), of unknown origin, perhaps connected to the root of hide (v.). In Goth. only in gudhus "temple," lit. "god-house;" the usual word for "house" in Goth. being razn. Meaning
"family, including ancestors and descendants, especially if noble" is from c.1000. The legislative sense (1540s) is transferred from the building in which the body meets. Meaning "audience in a theater" is from 1921; as a dance club DJ music style, probably from the Warehouse, a Chicago nightclub where the style is said to have originated. Zodiac sense is first attested late 14c. The verb meaning "give shelter to" is O.E. husian (cognate with Ger. hausen, Du. huizen). Household is first recorded late 14c.; for housewife (early 13c.) see hussy. To play house is from 1871; as suggestive of "have sex, shack up," 1968. House arrest first attested 1936; housewarming is from 1577; houseboat is 1790. On the house "free" is from 1889.
"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]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Easton
Bible Dictionary
House definition
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).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
American Heritage
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Related Searches
Nearby Words
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
