hourly 
We must live In hourly expectation of having those 
troops recalled. Swift. 
hourly (our'li), adv. [< hour + -7y 2 .] Every 
hour ; hour by hour ; frequently. 
Great was their strife, which hourl;/ was renewed. 
Dryden, Pal. and Arc., i. 352. 
hour-plate (our'plat), . The plate of a clock 
or other timepiece on which the hours are 
marked; the dial. 
housaget (hou'zaj), . [< />.s-el + -age.] A 
fee paid for housing goods. ilinsJicu. 
housalt, [< house 1 + -til.'] Domestic. 
Ichneumon [F. ]. The Indian or more properly the ^Egyp- 
tian Rat, Pharoes Mouse, a mortal enemy as to the Croco- 
dile, so to all Serpents, and therefore usually tamed, and 
made housal, by the people of JSgypt. Cotgrave. 
liousbondt, n. An obsolete form of husband. 
housbondryt, n. An obsolete form of hus- 
bandry. 
house* (hous), . ; pi. houses (hou'zez). [< ME. 
hous, hows, kits, < AS. hus = OS. OPries. hits = 
D. hub = MLG. hits = OHG. MHG. hits, G. haus 
= Icel. hits = Dan. Sw. hits = Goth, hus (only 
in comp. gud-hus, house of God, temple) ; prob. 
connected with hut and hoard 1 , and ult. from 
the root of hide 1 , cover, conceal: see hide 1 , hut, 
hoard 1 .] 1 . A building designed to be used as 
a place of residence, or of human occupation 
for any purpose : as, a dwelling-ftowse ; a bank- 
ing-house; a house of worship ; a public house. 
In law the word house, used for a dwelling-place, is some- 
times interpreted as excluding and sometimes aa includ- 
ing outbuildings. 
It is right a feir Hows, and it is alle round, and highe, 
and covered with Leed, and it is well paved with white 
Marble. ilandeville, Travels, p. 81. 
I rode to Papia or Pavia, a cite and universite, ther lyes 
Seynt Austyn, the grett Doctor, in a howse of Keligion, of 
Chanons reguler, and (fryers Anstyns. 
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 5. 
He is for this honnie lass, 
To keep his house in order. 
Catherine Johnstone (Child's Ballads, IV. 34). 
Howes are built to live in, and not to look on ; there- 
fore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where 
both may be had. Bacon, Building (ed. 1887). 
Hence 2. An abiding-place; an abode; a 
place or means of lodgment ; a fixed shelter 
or investment: as, the Tiermit-crab carries its 
house on its back. 
I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the 
house appointed for all living. Job xxx. 23. 
It is the curse of kings to be attended 
By slaves that take their humours for a warrant 
To break within the bloody house of life. 
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 
According to M. Fol, who has studied the formation of 
the house [the mucilaginous cuticular investment] with 
great care, the Appendiculariae have no proper test, and 
what I have described as the structureless gelatinous in- 
vestment of the anterior part of the body is the commence- 
ment of the house. It increases, assumes a peculiar fibrous 
structure, and in the course of an hour, in a vigorous ani- 
mal, it is separated as an envelope in which the whole 
body is capable of free movement. 
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 514. 
3. A building used for some purpose other than 
human occupation : usually with a descriptive 
prefix: as, a covr-house; a w&rehouse; a tool- 
house. 
And of all thynges let the butterye, the celler, the 
kytchyn, the larder house, with all other houses of offyces, 
be kepte cleane. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 114. 
4. The persons collectively who dwell together 
under one roof; a family; a household. 
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 
Josh. xxiv. 15. 
My mother weeping, my father wailing, . . . and all our 
house in a great perplexity. Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 3. 
5. A family regarded as consisting of ancestors, 
descendants, and kindred; a race of persons 
from one stock; a tribe; especially, a noble 
family or an illustrious race : .as, the house of 
Hapsburg; the house of Hanover; the house of 
Israel or of Jiulah. 
A patrician, 
A man, I must confess, of no mean house. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 2. 
The coat-armour of every house was a precious inheri- 
tance, which descended, under definite limitations and 
with distinct differences, to every member of the family. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 471. 
6. (a) A legislative body; usually, one of the 
divisions of the legislative branch of a gov- 
ernment acting separately, or of any delibera- 
tive body divided into two chambers : as, the 
House of Lords or of Commons it the British 
Parliament; the House of Representatives in the 
United States Congress; the House of Bishops 
and the So^lse of Delegates in the American Epis- 
copal Church. The less numerous or higher in rank 
of the two Imdies composing a bicameral legislature is com- 
2901 
monly spoken of, though not officially designated, as the 
upper house, the other as the lower house, (ft) [c,a)>.] 
Specifically, in the United States, the lower 
house, or House of Representatives, the more 
numerous of the two bodies of the national 
legislature. The name is also given in some 
States to the corresponding body in the State 
legislature. See congress, 4. 
The House, in addition to its legislative powers, has the 
sole power of impeachment. Calhoun, Works, I. 176. 
7. The audience or attendance at a place of en- 
tertainment. 
The self-complacent actor, when he views 
(Stealing a sidelong glance at a full house) 
The slope of faces from the floor to roof 
Relax'd into a universal grin. 
Cowper, Task, iv. 201. 
The whole house broke out into acclamations. 
F. A. Kemble, Records of a Girlhood, Jan. 9, 1831. 
8. In com., a firm or commercial establishment : 
as, the house of Jones Brothers. 
Many a year went round before I was a partner In the 
house. Dickeni, Great Expectations, Iviii. 
9. Chamber; room; specifically, in provincial 
English use, the ordinary sitting-room in a 
farm-house ; in sulphuric-acid works, one of 
the chambers in which the acid is formed. 
Like a pestilence, It doth infect 
The houses of the brain. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 1. 
10. In astral., a twelfth part of the heavens as 
divided by great circles drawn through the north 
and south points of the horizon, in the same way 
as meridians pass through the earth's poles. 
The heavens, visible and invisible, excluding the parts that 
never rise and that never set, were thus divided into twelve 
parts, six being above the horizon and six below. But there 
was considerable diversity in the details of the rule for 
dividing the heavens into houses. They are of different 
relative magnitudes, according to the different rules which 
were used for finding their limits. The twelve houses 
were numbered round from east to south, and so on, be- 
ginning with that which lay in the east immediately be- 
low the horizon. The first house was called the house 
of life; the second, that of fortune or riches; the third, 
that of brethren ; the fourth, that of relations ; the fifth, 
that of children ; the sixth, that of health ; the seventh, 
that of marriage ; the eighth, that of death or the upper 
portal; the ninth, that of religion; the tenth, that of dig- 
nities ; the eleventh, that of friends and benefactors; and 
the twelfth, that of enemies or of captivity. The succeed- 
ent houses are the second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh. The 
cadent houses are the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth. 
Saturn being in the sixth house, in opposition to Mars 
retrograde in the House of Life, cannot but denote long 
and dangerous sickness. Scott, Kenilworth, xviii. 
11. A square or division on a chess-board. 
12. The workhouse ; poorhouse. [Colloq.] 
We've had Larkins the baker coming to inquire if there's 
parish pay to look to for your bill, Mrs. Armstrong, and 
I have told him No, not a farthing, not the quarter of a 
farthing, unless you'll come into the house. 
Mrs. Trullope, Michael Armstrong, iv. 
" He was brought up In the " with a shiver of repug- 
nance " the House. 1 ' Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, L 16. 
Beehive house. See beehive. Call of the house. See 
cain. Distaff side of the house. See distaff. Full 
house. See /!. Glass house. See glass and glass- 
house. Holy house, a religious house ; a sanctuary. 
They . . . defendedyn liem by the sikernesse of holy 
hawses, that is to seyn Redden Into seyntuarye. 
Chaucer, Boethius, i. prose 4. 
House community. See community. House of call, 
a house where journeymen connected with a particular 
trade assemble, especially when out of work, and where 
the unemployed can be hired by those in search of hands. 
House of Commons. See commons, 3. House of 
congregation. See congregation, 8. House of Convo- 
cation. See convocation. House Of correction. See 
correction. Houseof Delegates. See delegate. House 
of detention. See detention. House of God, of the 
Lord, of prayer, of worship, a temple, church, or other 
place set apart for divine service and worship. 
This [the place of Jacob's vision] Is none other than the 
house of God. Gen. xxviii. 17. 
House of 111 fame, a bawdy-house. House of Keys. 
See ken*. House of Lords. Seelord. Houseof non- 
regents, an assembly of the resident masters of a me 
dieval university not members of the house of regents. 
House Of office*, a building or room for some domestic 
purpose, (a) A household office ; a pantry. 
If thou be admitted ... as Butler or Panter, . . . 
Keepe euery house of o/yce cleane. and all that belongeth 
to It. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 66. 
(6) An outhouse; aprivy. House of refuge. Seertfvg?. 
House Of regents, the governing assembly of a medie- 
val university, consisting of the body of masters engaged 
in lecturing. House Of Representatives. See repre- 
sentative. House of water, an old, abandoned mine 
filled with water. [Cornish.] House out Of windowst, 
a state of confusion. Dacies. [Colloq.] 
We are at home now ; where, I warrant you, you shall 
find the home flung out of the windows. 
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle, iii. 5. 
Inner house, the higher branch of the Scotch Court of 
Session. Its jurisdiction is chiefly appellate, and it ordi- 
narily sits in two divisions of four Juupes each. Like a 
bouse o' fire, as fast as a house could burn ; very fast. 
house 
I am getting on, thank Heaven, like a "house o' fire," 
and think the next rickwick will bang all the others. 
Dickens, in Forster, I. vi. 158. 
Lower house. See def. 6 (a). Muniment house. See 
muniment. Outer house, the lower branch of the Scotch 
Court of Session. Its judges hold courts of first instance. 
Out of house and hauld. Nee hauld. Plots' houses. 
See beehive houxe, under beehive. Public house, a house 
of general resort ; specifically, in Great Britain, a licensed 
house for the sale of liquors at retail. [In the hitter sense, 
commonly with a hyphen. See publiv-huuse.] Spear 
side and spindle side of the house. See /'<" and spin- 
dle. Sponging house. See xp.m:iing-honxe. To bring 
down the house, to carry the house, to count out the 
house, to count the house, to divide the house, to 
eat one out of house and home, etc. See the verbs. 
To keep a good house, to provide well for the house- 
hold ; entertain visitors well ; furnish good fare, etc. 
He is now in his fifty-sixth year, chearful, gay, and 
hearty ; keeps a good house both in town and country. 
Addison. 
To keep house, to be at the head of a household, or to 
manage its affairs. 
A narrow cave ran in beneath the cliff : 
In this the children play'd at keeping house. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
To keep open house, to offer hospitality freely and gen- 
erally. 
I believe papa had the pleasure of inviting Mr. Sparkler 
twice or thrice, hut it was nothing. We had so many peo- 
ple about us, and kept such open house that ... it was less 
than nothing. Di&kens, Little Don-it, ii. 7. 
To keep the house, to be confined to the house ; stay 
within doors. 
Gentle sickness, gradually 
Weakening the man, till he could do no more, 
But kept the house, his chair, and last his bed. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
To live in a glass house. See glass, a. Upper house. 
See def. 6 (a). =Syn. 1. Inn, Hotel, etc. See tavern. 
house 1 (houz), v.; pret. and pp. housed, ppr. 
housing. [< ME. housen, howsen, < AS. husian, 
house (= OFries. husa, receive into a house, = 
D. huizen, lodge, dwell, reside, = MLG. husen, 
receive into a house, = OHG. huson, MHG. hu- 
sen, G. hausen, reside, keep house, house, lodge, 
= Icel. hysa = Dan. huse, house, harbor), < hus, 
house: see house^, .] I. trans. 1. To put or 
receive into a house ; provide with a dwelling 
or residence ; put or keep under a roof ; cover ; 
shelter; protect by covering. 
Thereabowte ye shalle yow howse, 
And sone after that shalt be hur spowse. 
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 95. (Halliwell.) 
Nay, good sir, house your head. 
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, 111. 1. 
Are they in safety ? Are they housed ? 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, v. 
2. To cause to take shelter. 
Even now we hous'd him in the abbey here. 
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 
The priest ran away : they followed him till they housed 
him ; what followed I know not. 
Penn, Travels in Holland, etc. 
3. To hide. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.] 
If Mason had been a person of less habitual self-repres- 
sion, he would not have been able to house his feelings so 
securely. E. Hggleston, The Graysons, xxi. 
4. Nmit.: (a) To arrange in the form of a ridged 
roof, as an awning, so as to shed rain. (6) To 
remove from exposure ; put in a place of de- 
posit or a state of security: as, to house a boat 
or a sail. A gun is housed by running it in on deck and 
securing it by tackle, muzzle-lashing, and breeching, after 
the breech has been depressed so that the muzzle rests 
against the side of the ship above the port. Topmasts 
and topgallantmasts are housed by partly lowering them, 
to lessen the effect of wind on the masts and rigging. 
5. In carp., to fix in a socket, mortice, or other 
space cut out, as a board or timber fitting into 
another. 
Wall strings are the supporters of the ends of the treads 
and risers. . . . They may be housed or left solid. 
F. T. Hodgson, Stairbuilding, p. 12. 
II. intrans. 1. To take shelter or lodging; 
take up abode ; reside. 
Follow this fair lady wherever she doth go, 
And where she houses, come and let me know. 
The Strand Garland. 
We house with the insane, and must humor them ; then 
conversation dies out. Emerson, Experience. 
Hunting the exile tow'rd the wood, 
To home with snipe and moor-hen. 
Lowell, Gold Egg. 
2. In astral., to be situated in a house or region 
of the heavens. 
In fear of this, observe the starry signs 
Where Saturn houses, and where Hermes joins. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil s Georgics, L 469. 
house 2 (hous), n. [Also written housse, and for- 
merly houtss; < ME. howse, *housse (f), < OF. 
housse, a short mantle, a foot-cloth for a horse, 
a coverlet ; cf . ML. refl. housia, husia, hussia, a 
long tunic, a coverlet for a horse, hucia, a long 
tunic, the more orig. ML. form being hulcia, 
